A link to all the US Panasonic firmware updates can be found here. (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vDownloads?storeId=15001&langId=-1&page=DVDFirmware)

Hello,

after 2 weeks without any problems it seems that my DMR-EH55S is freezing. I can't change the channels, nor can I start recording nor can I enter the "Functions" with the remote control. But if I press other buttons like Schedule or TVGuide it works! When I try to change the channels on the buttons of the DVD-Recorder itself it doesn't react either and it doesn't open the DVD-Case if I press the open/close button... This is very very strange, has anybody an idea? I already plugged the recorder off 2 times for abot 30 minutes but nothing changed...

Pile

Hello,

after 2 weeks without any problems it seems that my DMR-EH55S is freezing. I can't change the channels, nor can I start recording nor can I enter the "Functions" with the remote control. But if I press other buttons like Schedule or TVGuide it works! When I try to change the channels on the buttons of the DVD-Recorder itself it doesn't react either and it doesn't open the DVD-Case if I press the open/close button... This is very very strange, has anybody an idea? I already plugged the recorder off 2 times for abot 30 minutes but nothing changed...

Pile

I suggest that you perform a reset by turning the unit on, opening the small door on the front of the unit, and pressing the Channel UP and Channel Down at the same time and hold for about 5 seconds until the unit powers off. This will set it to the "out of the box" factory defaults and will initiate the setup process when you turn the unit back on. I hope this will unfreeze the unit.

Harry

LameBolus:
Did RCA Video pull in the TVGOS listings for you?
My 3rd cabling arrangement was a bust. That's one I tried and 2 from Panny tech support. Blech. :confused:
Are there any Comcast Digital with a Moto DCT6412 STB on this thread?? Please post your cabling and setup inputs if you have a chance.
Thanks :)

Sorry, been traveling for business. Doesn't look like it worked.

Did a hard reset of the unit. Did NOT set the time.
Ran RCA R/L/V from STB Video 1 to Panny IN3. No S-Video
Still expecting the time to be set first. Panny Unit has been off for at least 16 hours without being turned back on.
Time has not been set after 16 hours.
Turn the unit back on and still trying to set the time.

I suggest that you perform a reset by turning the unit on, opening the small door on the front of the unit, and pressing the Channel UP and Channel Down at the same time and hold for about 5 seconds until the unit powers off. This will set it to the "out of the box" factory defaults and will initiate the setup process when you turn the unit back on. I hope this will unfreeze the unit.

Harry

I would do as hwd3 suggests, and add that you should hold the channel up and channel down buttons until the flashing 12:00 appears on the display.

Good luck, and report back what happens.

piledriver - read the post 2 before yours re: unresponsive to remote firmware upgrade. My es-15 had a similar issue before I returned it.

Hi,
ZZen I don't think it was unresponsive to the remote as I could for example enter TVGuide or DirecNavigator, but how can I find out which firmware is installed, maybe it is already the new one as I just bought it.
By the way the problem got away by itself, it wasn't necessary to reset, it suddenly worked again :-).
I now have a new problem: I can't change the clock manually as it is grey out in the functions menu. I set it manually when I did the setup and now the time here (in Honduras !) has changed and I can't access the clock menu anymore because it's grey. How can I solve this without doing a reset?
Thanks in advance for your help!

My DirecTV satellite receiver (Ultimate TV) has an IR blaster that controls a VCR and I am sure it would control the EH-55 if I had the right code. To me this is the superior way to record programming to the DVD Recorder as opposed to using TVGOS, which I have been unable to download and that can interfere with normal STB operation, as noted in this thread.

Has anyone been able to get your satellite receiver to control your DVD Recorder using the IR Blaster and schedule recording from the DirecTV EPG?

"No, the DMR-EH55 is not a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) as is the TIVO, Replay TV or other devises meant to capture video for watching at a different time interactively. The DMR-EH55 is a DVD recorder with a HDD for facilitating video editing and copying to DVD. However, you can record a broadcast to the HDD and watch it in delayed mode using a "timeslip" capability as it is recording."

So, I can not record direct to the HDD? I have to record to the DVD then dub over? I m not going to buy ths unit unless I can record straight to the HDD.

... You CAN record to HDD on the EH55, using one of 3 or 4 inputs; lines 1, 2 (front), and I think it has line 3, again in back. These are composite (yellow-red-white) or s-vhs (and red-white audio). Also, 4-pin dv input in front.

I have a pan EH-55, I copied from HDD to DVD 1X-- my thumb nails did not get recorded! not sure what I did wrong? any suggestions?? thanks bob

I have a pan EH-55, I copied from HDD to DVD 1X-- my thumb nails did not get recorded! not sure what I did wrong? any suggestions?? thanks bob
Did you "Finalize" the disc...thumbnails don't show up until the disc is Finalized. I think that's still a separate step you have to select in the new Pain-asonics?

In my experience, real-time copies don't preserve the thumbnails on Panasonics. I just wait to set them on the DVD after such a copy on my E85H.

I'll burn another DVD and make sure that I finalise it !! Thanks

I'll burn another DVD and make sure that I finalise it !! Thanks

Why not just make sure the dvd-r you've already copied is finalized? If it's not, you can still finalize it on the same brand dvd recorder the copy was made on.

The EH55 gives an option, Copy, or Copy and Finalize. Choosing the latter, you do not have an opportunity to add a disc title or change thumbnail between the Copy and the Finalize; those must be done before the Copy and Finalize step.

with everyone's help, I found that I had did a "copy & finalize" ! this morning I copied, then modified the thumb nails, then finalised!
worked great -- thank you for the help!!

I am thinking of getting the EH55 to replace my aging HS2. I really love my HS2 but it's 40gb drive is getting cramped and I really like the Divx feature on the EH55. I have two questions that I am hoping someone can answer.

1) What is the Difference between the EH55s and the EH55

2) Can I take a DVD-R that has Burned Divx files on it and copy them to the E55 Hard Drive then play them from there? If thats true can I now Burn them back to DVD-R?

3) Does the EH55 create thumbnails on DVD-R menus? The HS2 could not do this.

"No, the DMR-EH55 is not a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) as is the TIVO, Replay TV or other devises meant to capture video for watching at a different time interactively. The DMR-EH55 is a DVD recorder with a HDD for facilitating video editing and copying to DVD. However, you can record a broadcast to the HDD and watch it in delayed mode using a "timeslip" capability as it is recording."

So, I can not record direct to the HDD? I have to record to the DVD then dub over? I m not going to buy ths unit unless I can record straight to the HDD.


Well, the Panasonic website finally posted the manual (wasn't there a few days ago. This unit can record (and store) to the HHD (see page 25), so the poster saying the 55 wasn't a DVR was wrong. This unit IS a DVR. Too bad I bought the EM25S unit instead (no returns...) I should have been more patient I guess. Anyone want a new DMR-ES25S?

I know that you can go through several menu steps to do a manual timer recording instead of using the tvgos guide, but just to be clear...if I wanted to, could I disable tvgos somehow and use this recorder as if tvgos didn't even exist on it? Make it become invisible like recording on the es-15 or something? Thx.

Hi, just wondering if anyone had an answer for this one. Thx.

2) Can I take a DVD-R that has Burned Divx files on it and copy them to the E55 Hard Drive then play them from there? If thats true can I now Burn them back to DVD-R?Possibly you could record DivX material from a DVD to the HDD in real time. Then you would have the DivX material as MPEG, which you could then burn to a new DVD as such. I'm fairly certain that you could not do a high-speed (digital) transfer of DivX files from DVD to HDD. Most DVD Recorders do not let you do such transfers unless the files involved were initially created by the recorder itself.

Can you use the IR Blaster that came with your Panny Plasma to change the channels on your DMR EH55S recorder???? , like when your using TVGOS ON YOUR PANASONIC PLASMAand you hit the record button will it program your DMR EH55S to record the program or not???

So you think that I can put a DVD-R in with Divx movies and record them to the Hard Drive? Has anyone tried this??


Possibly you could record DivX material from a DVD to the HDD in real time. Then you would have the DivX material as MPEG, which you could then burn to a new DVD as such. I'm fairly certain that you could not do a high-speed (digital) transfer of DivX files from DVD to HDD. Most DVD Recorders do not let you do such transfers unless the files involved were initially created by the recorder itself.

Assuming the DivX files in question are supported by the model in question, it may be possible. Then again the recorder may explicitly not allow such copying.

If you want to make (DVD-Compliant) DVDs of DivX material, you could use your PC for that by the way. But that is a subject for another Forum (http://forum.videohelp.com).

Hi,
anybody else having this problem? When I watch something I recorded on HDD, then turn off in the middle and want to watch later it doesn't remember the position I stoped watching? Is there somethimg in the setup menu I have to turn on or why does this happen? I had the Toshiba XS32 before and that worked perfectly, he remebered every position of every single recording on the HDD.

My other problem with the freezing came back last time, I had to reset it :-(...

Piledriver

So you think that I can put a DVD-R in with Divx movies and record them to the Hard Drive? Has anyone tried this??


This cannot be done. Verified with the EH75v (same Divx playback capability as the EH55 but with 80GB HDD and VHS deck).

Here's a CNET review of the EH55 where one user found it to be good and two found it to be not so good (http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_DIGA_DMR_EH55_S_DVD_recorder_HDD_recorder_with_TV_ tuner/4505-6463_7-31825672.html)...one of those claiming there is a diff. between a unit with an "S" at the end of the model # and no "S". Supposedly, w/o an "S" it has no firewire or USB input?

That cnet reviewer that said the lack of "s" means no firewire or USB is in fact WRONG. S is just to indicate that it is silver in colour, while Panasonic devices with K are black in colour. There IS firewire(camcorder DV only though), but no USB on this model.

Here's a CNET review of the EH55 where one user found it to be good and two found it to be not so good (http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_DIGA_DMR_EH55_S_DVD_recorder_HDD_recorder_with_TV_ tuner/4505-6463_7-31825672.html)...one of those claiming there is a diff. between a unit with an "S" at the end of the model # and no "S". Supposedly, w/o an "S" it has no firewire or USB input?



That cnet reviewer that said the lack of "s" means no firewire or USB is in fact WRONG. S is just to indicate that it is silver in colour, while Panasonic devices with K are black in colour. There is no firewire or USB on this model.

It is incredible as to where these wives tales must come from.

"S" does mean Silver and "K" means black. However the EH55 has a Firewire input as does the Sony 715. Neither has a USB port. Both are great HDD DVD recorders with the Panasonic having better quality recordings beyond 2 hours 30 minutes but the Sony provides the 16:9 Flag for recordings as long as 2 hours 30 minutes while the Panasonic does not. I have both and use them for different purposes. Some like the editing capability of the Panasonic better than the Sony but I find the Panasonic harder to edit with than the Sony. I wish I had a frame-by-frame editing capability as I do on my PC but I can't seem to make either one do that accurately.

Ack, what was I thinking. Yes of course eh55s does have a DV input which is firewire. When I read firewire for some reason I was thinking a fully functional firewire in/output separate from the DV input. The DV input is firewire, but it is limited to only taking DV video from a camcorder. Maybe the guy didn't see the DV input? I'll correct my previous post.

Thanks, Bruce. Really appreciate your testing that for me.

Was hoping the answer would have been different. Does it make a difference if, after erasing certain segments, you combine the chapters? Would that get rid of the pauses?

Thanks again,

Richard

Richard...this is what I do when editing so that the pause (very very brief) is not noticable.....almost all scene endings have a black frame inbetween it and the start of a commercial...I get to this point and hit pause, then use slow motion to hit the black frame on the nose and edit on these frames....the pause is not perceivable without any background.

Dave

Help!...am I able to record HD with a cox cable box to the HDD? If so how? Thanks

Help!...am I able to record HD with a cox cable box to the HDD? If so how? Thankshttp://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=599173

Thanks, Dave (as in Davidsin62), for replying. In my case, where I'm editting a weekly church service, we don't often have convenient black dividers. Most of the time I have to trim a scene, the awkward delays between a song or musical presentation and a speaker comming to the platform, for example. By copying to dvd in real time, I eliminate the pauses; I also eliminate the playlist chapter points and the playlist thumbnail, an inconvenience. I have yet to try combining chapters before copying, to see if that would eliminate the pauses.

From another post, as for taking DV in only from a camcorder, that is not completely accurate. We are taking dv input from a DataVideo SE-800 video mixer, with no problem. While most of the input to the mixer is from cameras- composite, s-vhs, or dv, we also have input to the mixer from the non-dv titler, a non-camera source.

Richard

Yeah it's not that these recorders with DV input will only accept DV from a camcorder, but that they will only accept DV period. Some ask about recording from their STB which outputs MPEG TS on the FireWire.

Nobody else then me having that problem??

Hi,
anybody else having this problem? When I watch something I recorded on HDD, then turn off in the middle and want to watch later it doesn't remember the position I stoped watching? Is there somethimg in the setup menu I have to turn on or why does this happen? I had the Toshiba XS32 before and that worked perfectly, he remebered every position of every single recording on the HDD.
Piledriver

STOP the play, then PLAY, it will resume from the stop point. Some players, don't know if apllies to EH55, press STOP twice to reset to beginning. POWER OFF, then power on and it starts at the begnning.

Piledriver---
RichardT is correct, and it does apply to the EH55, except the memorized place on the HDD will survive a power-off, unless you hit STOP more than once in a row before powering down. I haven't tried it with a disc in the tray, but I think that works the same as the HDD, unless you eject the disc.

From p. 36 of the manual:
STOP:
"Press [].
The stopped position is memorized.

[B]Resume play function
Press [RightFacing Black Triangle [play symbol]] (PLAY) to restart from this position.

Stopped position
If [Black Square[stop symbol]] is pressed several times the position is cleared.
The position is cleared if the tray is opened (excluding [HDD]).

[DVD-A] [CD] [VCD] and MP3/DivX: The position is cleared if the unit is turned off."

Hope this helps,
Steve

Hi!
Since this is a pretty long thread, I have to admit that I didn't read all the posts you guys entered, especially because most of the first pages refer to digital cable boxes and stuff, which are not available in Romania yet and don’t really affect me.

I got the DMR EH55 K a couple of days ago and I found the Romanian user's manual to be really annoying, as it is badly translated (no English manual came with the unit, unfortunately; I'll have to look for it in the Internet).
So, do not mind a question: I copied an old VHS tape on the HDD (great quality, by the way, couldn't tell the copy from the original) and I took the time to put some chapter marks in manually. Then, I copied the footage on a DVD-R. I was (very unpleasantly) surprised to notice that, on the DVD I created, my custom chapters were all gone, being replaced by 5 minute ones set automatically by the recorder. I used the "non-hi-speed" copy mode (45 minutes of material, 45 minutes of copying time). Quality mode was set to XP in both cases (initial HDD recording and then copying).
So, can I somehow keep my own chapters when copying stuff from HDD to DVD in 1X speed, or I'll just have to stick to the HS mode? (I wouldn’t like to use the high speed mode, because it’s less reliable for creating error-free, long lasting DVDs out of my old VHS video archive).
Thanks a lot!

Only by using High-Speed mode copy from HDD to DVD will you retain your manually-placed Chapter marks.

I'm not sure why you say High-Spees mode is less reliable. It is certainly preferable in the sense that it makes exact copies as opposed to Real-Time copying which must re-encode the audio/video, introducing degradation.

Thanks for your answer, bobkart.
I prefer using a real time DVD recording because of the old myth related to the computer CD and DVD writers: low burning speed = less risk to get a faulty disk. Maybe this rule doesn't apply to modern stand-alone DVD recorders, I don't know. I just want my disks to resist in time for as long as possible, as those old VHS recordings are really precious to me. I'm not necessarily interested in speeding up the copying process; real time is fine.
On the other hand, you are perfectly right about the re-encoding issue. It causes quality loss. Since I’m not happy with losing my custom chapters in real time mode, I guess I’ll have to go for the hi-speed copying method.
By the way: if I use the "normal" (less noisy, they say) hi-speed copying mode, the burning will be made at 4X, 8X, or higher (DVD-R)? If it was 4X (or not much more), I would be pretty happy.

Well, I have recently changed to using 4x when I burn a DVD from PC, as opposed ot 8x or 16x, for the reasons you mention. But that is still "high-speed" compared to a 1x "real-time" conversion. I think the difference is minor. And I'm not sure what speed burner you have in your recorder but I don't think it's much more than 8x. Real-time copies have their own problems relating to starting and stopping the burn over and over due to the low rate that the data is coming in. I think you will be fine with high-speed copies, what you may lose in quality of burn will be more than made up for in Picture Quality. And you could always re-burn them on a PC at whatever speed you determine to yield the best burn quality.

Hi folks,

I've read most of the posts I can find and figure that I have hookup and TVGOS problems but they are a bit different from most people's experience. The two unique challenges I have are:

1. My cable box is really old technology. A Scientific Atlanta with only an RF in and RF out. I have no good ideas about how to optimally hook my system up since all diagrams in the operator manual assume the cable box has component or svideo outputs.

2. I'm living outside of North America with a eh55 I bought in the US. So obviously I don't need and can't use TVGOS.


Currently, I have my wall cable in to the RF in on the cable box, RF out from the cable box to the RF in on the eh55, component video to TV and RCA audio to the TV. I have set up in the TVGOS as from Canada A0A0A0 code, using cable box.

THis allows me to timer record if I keep the cable box on, and allows me to watch slightly washed out TV thru Input 3 on my TV and change change channels using IR. But if I just watch TV with the recorder sleeping I get the TVGOS vain seach for PBS EPG codes that will never come. This is a bit of a pain.

Would anybody more techno savvy than me have any advice on either ways to improve my setup or ways to trick TVGOS to go away? Thanks.

Is it true that this machine can NOT high speed/bit-bit copy an unprotected DVD-R to the Hard drive (for making a couple exact copies, etc) ? Only can do it from DVD-Ram to HD? Really?

I would like to ask EH 55 owners to clarify one thing for me.

Is it possible to watch DVD movie from DVD disc and make recording from tuner to HDD at the same time ?

The reason why I am asking about this basic function is the following:
I have read somewhere that this unit had got problem with scheduled TV recordings to HDD, if you insert a DVD into drive and watch it during the time of scheduled program recording.

Some people reported that in many cases the scheduled recording was interrupted in such case.

That sounds really weird to me.

Is there anybody who can confirm or deny this behavior ?
I am going to order DVD HDD recorder soon and this is the only thing that holds me from selecting the EH55.

Thank you very much

Tomas D

It is incredible as to where these wives tales must come from.

Clearly from old wives ... sorry, the devil made me do it. :D

I only need to edit dvd's occasionally, as my need for a DVD recorder is to mostly offload shows from my DirectTivo.

If I need to edit, what features would I be missing if I bought a ES25 (no HDD) instead, burned the material to DVD-RAM, take the disc to my PC and edit it using something like Adobe Elements Premiere?? (and then reburn the edited version using my PC).

It sounds like more of a hassle than just buying a EH55, but the price difference is substantial, especially if editing is needed only occassionally.

Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks

You will want to make sure your PC DVD drive can read DVD-RAMs, and that you have or can get software that can read the DVD file structure therein.

DVD-RW instead of DVD-RAM may be a more straight path. Most PC DVD drives can read them no problem. The same is not true of DVD-RAM.

This is my first post. Thanks for all the information in the previous 10 pages. I have a Comcast Motorola(digital). My husband has changed connections several times & we finally have the TVGOS downloaded. The cable line is split to the recorder and the cablebox. Component & RCA audio cables are connected from cable box to display. S video & RCA audio connected from cable box to recorder. The RF cable connects the recorder to the display. We have also tried to connect the wall cable to the recorder and pass through to the cablebox. Using the TVGOS to record, I can record the program, but if I watch another program, it will record that channel with the title of the previously selected recording.

Please let me know what needs to be corrected to be able to record & watch another channel. Thanks.

MJ

I would like to ask EH 55 owners to clarify one thing for me.

Is it possible to watch DVD movie from DVD disc and make recording from tuner to HDD at the same time ?




I am sorry for repeating my question, but I have chance to buy EH55 under some promotion that is valid through Monday.
But I do not want to order before I am sure that I can watch the DVD and record another programme (TV channel) to HDD at the same time.

Is there any EH55 owner here who knows the answer ?

My other favorites are the LG RH-188 and Sony HX-520 ( they can do that), but they do not support flexible bitrate when dubbing from HDD to DVD.


Thank you very much

Tomas D

Yes, you can record to the HDD while watching a DVD on the EH-55.

Look on page 27 of the manual, available here. (http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMREH55.pdf)

Yes, you can record to the HDD while watching a DVD on the EH-55.

Look on page 27 of the manual,

rgazzara - thanks for the info, but I am afraid that this manual page is not confirming enough for me .

I have read the manual several times and I remember that. But I think that it refers to HDD or DVD-RAM only, as stated on the top of that page.

I am interested in normal, commercial movie from DVD ROM replay during recording of another TV channel from tuner to HDD.

Do you have your own experience that this is possible with EH55 ?

Thank you

Tomas D

Do you have your own experience that this is possible with EH55 ?

Tomas D

I called my friend who just got one and asked her for you.

Yes, you can record to the HDD while watching another DVD with this unit.

She was actually doing that while we were talking.

Hi All,

First week with this unit (upgraded from a Panny DMR-HS2 bought in 2002). So far, I am loving it and especially all the new features added in the last 4+ years!

One question, though. I searched throughout the manual and could not find an answer to this question:

After finalizing a DVD, the top level menu of the DVD shows thumbnails for each show. Is there a way to turn this off, so that only titles are displayed on the top level menu of the DVD (similar to the way my HS2 use to work)?

Thanks in advance for any replies...
Don

I'm reposting my question. Hoping to get some help with how to record & watch another channel. Is this possible? TIA

This is my first post. Thanks for all the information in the previous 10 pages. I have a Comcast Motorola(digital). My husband has changed connections several times & we finally have the TVGOS downloaded. The cable line is split to the recorder and the cablebox. Component & RCA audio cables are connected from cable box to display. S video & RCA audio connected from cable box to recorder. The RF cable connects the recorder to the display. We have also tried to connect the wall cable to the recorder and pass through to the cablebox. Using the TVGOS to record, I can record the program, but if I watch another program, it will record that channel with the title of the previously selected recording.

Please let me know what needs to be corrected to be able to record & watch another channel. Thanks.

MJ

If the STB (Cable Box) is the only way you can tune a channel then it won't work. There have to be analog channels, so the DVD Recorder's tuner can be used, or as a third option, the TV's tuner.

Typically this would work just as you have it connected. To record an analog channel while watching anything else, use the DVD Recorder's tuner to tuen the analog channel, and watch anything else through the STB's connection to the display. But if you want to watch an analog channel while recording a digital channel, since the DVD Recorder can't tune digital channels, that must be done by the STB, and recorded via the S-Video to the DVD Recorder. And since the DVD Recorder is busy you can't use its analog tuner. So a third RF feed to the TV is called for in that case, or to any other device with an analog tuner that can then have its output fed to the display (a VCR for example).

But, of course, first you have to have channels that can be tuned by the DVD Recorder.

Thanks bobkart,

I'm going to connect a vcr this weekend & see what happens.

With the Panny DMR EH 55 I notice that the TVGOS only load up to channel 100 with an occassional 1 here and there above Channel 100. Is anybody else having this problem???????????????



Thanx for your help.

I posted this question on the e75v thread with no response so I thought I'd try this thread to see if anyone has experienced this problem.

I recorded 2 hour program to the hdd off of ESPN classic. I then edited out the commercials and ended up with 1:32 length. I tried to high speed copy to a +R disc (verbatim) and received an error message that read "copy failed" with no other explanation or error code#. My first thought was the disc was not compatible but I had used that brand sucessfully in the past. I tried another +R and also a +RW with the same error message. I then tried to see if another hdd title was recordable on those particular discs and was successful , so the brand of the discs wasn't the problem. I was able to high speed copy the problem title to a RAM disc, but every attempt to record to other media discs failed. I found no explanation for that "copy failed" message in the operator's manual. It did mention that a title heavily edited may not copy but this isnt the first program I have edited out commercials and never had this problem come up. Anyone else had this particular problem come up?

Not a "definitive" answer to be sure, but another user had a similar problem with a heavily edited HDD program. It "might/could" have something to do with the MPEG-2 editing done on our consumer equipment.

Apparently, editing MPEG-2 is a "complex" task and even computer SW apps have trouble or are "slow, etc.

You might be able to end up with a good HS copy by first copying the edited program to DVD in real-time, which re-encodes the MPEG-2 ("cleans it up end-to-end" so to speak), then copy back to HDD for more "cleaned-up" copies.

You'll lose a little PQ, but hopefully nothing easily "noticeable"???

gvc

I have the Panasonic 85H and when I tried High Speed Dubbing it said to change the recording mode. I had to turn high speed dubbing ON under the Setup – Disk menu.
It would however high speed dub to a Ram if this was set to off.

I have high speed copy turned on in the settings menu (I doubled checked to make sure ) so that wasnt the problem. The only thing I can think of is the amount of editing, but going from 2:00 to 1:32 shouldn't be excessive editing. But, like I said, I have been able to copy to a RAM disc. I'm thinking if I copy the title back to the HDD from the RAM disk and then copy to DVD, it might work. I tried to use "advance copy" with no luck , but I didn't attempt to change the recording mode from the original (SD).

I don't see how you can play a title in realtime off the HDD and then real time copy to a DVD as you would need to access both drives at the same time. I believe that only works for high speed copying. Hitting the record button from the DVD drive will only record from a source input , which the hdd isn't an input option, just av1,2,3,dv,sd, and turner. If you are on the HDD and play a listed title, hitting the record button wont work since it thinks you want to record back to the same HDD your playing from.

gvc

Does your machine record to DVD+R? My E85 only does –R so I would suggest trying a –R. The amount of editing should not have anything to do with it.

yes.. I have copied and /or recorded successfully using +R, +RW. BUT, mabey -R media is more Panasonic compatible with editing out commercials than +R?

I bought the EH55 and own the EH50. One thing that bums me out with the EH55 is when I edit out commercials and high speed to DVD. It doesn't edit at the exact spots I make the cut from. My EH 50 does but not the EH55. I could split a hair on the EH50 and the edit spots when high speed to DVD will be dead on. The EH55 ventures off the edit points a little. That is also the reason I don't like the Pioneer models. Anyone have an idea whats causing this?. I tried on/off on the seamless play option but same thing.

Only by re-encoding the video can you achieve frame-accurate cut points. High-speed copying does not re-encode the video (only real-time copying does that), so cut points have to be moved to the nearest so-called Key Frame that does allow a cut to appear according to the MPEG compression technique. Typically these Key Frames are every half second. This is basically a limitation of the MPEG compression technique, which performs not only intra-frame (also called spatial) compression (within each frame) but also inter-frame (also called temporal) compression (between frames).

This is an often-discussed issue here (especially recently).

Only by re-encoding the video can you achieve frame-accurate cut points. High-speed copying does not re-encode the video (only real-time copying does that), so cut points have to be moved to the nearest so-called Key Frame that does allow a cut to appear according to the MPEG compression technique. Typically these Key Frames are every half second. This is basically a limitation of the MPEG compression technique, which performs not only intra-frame (also called spatial) compression (within each frame) but also inter-frame (also called temporal) compression (between frames).

This is an often-discussed issue here (especially recently).


Yes I have read about it here. Thats what I don't understand. The edit points move on the EH55 and doesn't on the EH50. If the the frames are real tight. Lets say the program you are recording ends on the last frame. The commercial starts on the next frame with no black frames (or a few frames of black)the last frame of the program will freeze on the EH55 (sometimes, not always) with a picture displayed. The EH50 will transition smoothly. It will go to black and then to program. I never see my EH50 freeze on the last frame of the program. It cuts out to black and then to program.

Yes I see now that you did mention that the EH50 does not move edit points when you high-speed copy. That I have no explanation for, and find difficult to believe. My explanation was for why the edit points must in general move when high-speed copying is employed on MPEG material dues to shortcomings of the format itself (use of temporal compression techniques). Is it possible that the EH50 situation actually involved a real-time copy instead? The only other remotely possible explanation that comes to mind is that you just got lucky and the movement was slight enough that you did not detect it. But it's hard to imagine that happening for more than just a few cut points.

I had a program saved on my PVR purposely to test it out on the EH50. I recorded the program 3 times to the EH55 to see how the edit points behaved and it did the same thing each time. Dummy me ended up erasing it so now I have to wait for another program to come along that has tight edit points. Record and edit to the EH55. Then test on the EH50. I know what your saying how the edit points move when high speed copying. Maybe the EH50 transitions smoothly between edits while the EH55 hangs on the last frame with picture on a tight spot. I will have to test more on this. Some people wouldn't think its a huge deal but, it looks a little like sloppy editing when playing it back compared to the EH50 which looks like a nice transition cut that moves smoothly.

I have high speed copy turned on in the settings menu (I doubled checked to make sure ) so that wasnt the problem. The only thing I can think of is the amount of editing, but going from 2:00 to 1:32 shouldn't be excessive editing. But, like I said, I have been able to copy to a RAM disc. I'm thinking if I copy the title back to the HDD from the RAM disk and then copy to DVD, it might work. I tried to use "advance copy" with no luck , but I didn't attempt to change the recording mode from the original (SD).

.

Just an update.. I tried to copy the problem title using advanced copy feature and this time I changed the destination recording mode to FR and it worked. So , it just didnt want to high speed copy bit for bit @SP, probably due to the commercial editing. Again, this particular problem may be more susceptible using + media?

I apologize, I spoke too soon. The previous post was made while the realtime copy was in process. At the end of the copy , I received the U88 error code and nothing ended up being recorded to the +R media. I then went to Plan B , ie, trying to recopy the title back to the hdd from the ram disc and then trying to copy that duplicate recording onto a DVD. Unfortunately, that didn't work either as I continued to receive the "copy failed" error message. I'm about ready to give up , but I will go out and buy some -R media to see if they will accept the recording.

First post. :)

I just bought the Panasonic DMR-EH55 for the purpose of recording onto dual layer disks. I used to record sports games on two DVD's (first and second halves). But I figured with this new model, I could just put them onto one dual layer disk so I got it along with a bunch of dual layer disks.

Now, I edit out the commercials so that the video is shorter and the quality is better. I even used to do this when I put them on two disks.

When I record to a regular DVD-R, the unit automatically creates chapters every 5 minutes or so. I record in FR mode if this helps. However, when I did this on a dual layer DVD, these automatic chapter marks were not put in. The whole 2 and a half hour video was one giant chapter.

How can I create chapters in my DVD? I do not care if they are the ones automatically put in every 5 minutes or so (which I would prefer) or if I have to put them in manually. I would not mind it too much if I could create a chapter every quarter even though I liked the automatic chapters.

If it helps, I am recording on DVD+R DL discs. I would try creating chapter marks on the HDD first and then copying to a DVD+R DL before finalizing, but I do not want to waste anymore disks since dual layer discs are not as cheap as DVD-R's. Does anyone know if I can do this or what my options would be? I love the quality it recorded at on DVD+R DL's.

I hope someone can help.

Not the same unit, but this info "may" help.

On the Pio 640, the auto-chapter-mark setting only applies to -R/RW, not to +R/RW.

Not the same unit, but this info "may" help.

On the Pio 640, the auto-chapter-mark setting only applies to -R/RW, not to +R/RW.

Yeah, but if anyone knows if this is true for the Panasonic DMR-EH55, I would really appreciate it. Also, if someone can confirm that any custom chapters I create will stick, please let me know. I don't want to have to divide the one video into 4 just to have a new chapter for each quarter. It would then pause between chapters. Plus, the auto chapter would be ideal.

There's no pause between Chapters. Only between Titles.

There's no pause between Chapters. Only between Titles.

Yeah, but if I had to seperate my one title into four because I can't create chapters on a DVD+R DL, then there would be pauses.

So my question is: Using a DVD+R DL, how can I create chapters in my DVD? I do not care if they are the ones automatically put in every 5 minutes or so (which I would prefer) or if I have to put them in manually.

If there is no way to have the ones put in automatically every 5 minutes or so, will my custom ones transfer over. Also, my videos tend to be about 2 hours and 30 minutes each time. I have no idea if that helps.

The two common ways it works on DVD Recorders in general are either:

- add manual Chapter marks on the HDD and high-speed copy to DVD, manual Chapter marks are retained

- real-time copy to DVD and have Chapter marks automatically added at fixed intervals

The specifics of your particular model are not familiar to me but that is what the User Manual is for.

If the User Manual doesn't help, then experimentation is called for, or finding out from someone who has figured it out.

First off, I just wanted to say excellent forum with a wealth of A/V information. I read through most of the posts on the Panny EH55 and like others the TVGOS seems to be a sticking point. I've had the unit since Saturday 9/30/06 and up to this point have ONLY been able to download two days worth of programing. Anything beyond that simply states NO LISTING. Per the on screen display, it downloads the updates everyday at 6:31AM. I have left the unit off for over 24 hours twice since I purchased it. The manual states that it can take up to six days for the full eight days of programming list to appear, which means today would be the 6th day. Unfortunately, I still only have 2 days worth of programming listing.

I don't want to seem impatient, but should I wait it out a bit more or look towards Panny's support? Could it be my cable provider itself? Has anyone else taken the full 6 or possible 7 days to download the 8 days worth of listing? Not sure if this matters, but I did schedule some recordings over those 6 days. However, I believe I saw a poster mention that it doesn't matter if recordings are schedule as the box will still download the listing since it remains "off".

FYI: MY set is an analog cable (Comcast), no box. The RF comes out of the wall into the Panny and back out to the TV. On a side note, I noticed the menu is not nearly as sharp on an analogy TV compared to a digital TV. In fact, when recording with the schedular it can be difficult to make out a R for Regular and W for Weekly on an analog TV.

Thanks,

-Jerry

I've had the unit since Saturday 9/30/06 and up to this point have ONLY been able to download two days worth of programing. Anything beyond that simply states NO LISTING. Per the on screen display, it downloads the updates everyday at 6:31AM. I have left the unit off for over 24 hours twice since I purchased it. The manual states that it can take up to six days for the full eight days of programming list to appear, which means today would be the 6th day. Unfortunately, I still only have 2 days worth of programming listing.


Jerry - don't fret.
I've had this unit for about a month, and I absolutely love it. It takes a few days to know what you're doing - but once you get comfortable - things work like a charm.

MY TVGOS works PERFECTLY - and here's the answer to your question:

when I first set up TVGOS - the same thing happened to me - I got the first 2 days worth of data - and the rest of the week said "no listing". I too waited a few days - but still the rest of the week was blank. Then I realized something interesting happened.... the days AFTER the 8th day (from when I turned it on) were starting to get populated.
Let me explain with an example for simplicity. Let's say I set up TVGOS on August 1st. I noticed within a few hours that I had complete listings for August 1st and August 2nd, but that all future days were "no listing". I had expected August 3rd - 8th to fill-in, but they never did. Then I noticed that August 9th, 10th, 11th began to become populated, even though I still had no data for August 3rd - 8th.

Apparently the unit skips days 3-8 when you set it up and then magically picks up afterwards - but never populates those first few days between days 3-8.

I basically accepted the fact that my first week was "incomplete". Ever since that first week - it's been PERFECT. I've got several days worth of data going forward - and all of it's been accurate.

Starting looking a few days forward - you'll see your listings are there.

Good luck!!!

Well, thanks to this thread, I went ahead and bought an E55. I've only had it a couple of days, and unlike many, I had no problems getting the TVGS to work right ("cable without a box" setting).

Here are a couple questions I haven't been able to solve:

1. I have a Panasanic 720p plasma. The DVD recorder is hooked up via HDMI. I found a setting that asks if the output should be "progessive", which I answered YES. My friend has an upconverting Panasonic DVD player, and he tells me that his unit has a setting to tell it weather to ouput the signal as either 720p or 1080i. Does the E55 have this choice? I haven't found it.

2. While watching a pre-recorded program off the HDD, I hit the 'status' button. It provides lots of information, including 'elapsed time'. Is there any way to display 'time remaining' on the recording???

Thanks to everyone on this thread for your help and insights!

Is it true that this machine can NOT high speed/bit-bit copy an unprotected DVD-R to the Hard drive (for making a couple exact copies, etc) ? Only can do it from DVD-Ram to HD? Really?

I would like to know the answer to this question myself. I have some home video DVD's I'd like to archive to RAM disk.

Where in the setup menu do you go to find out what station is sending the TVGOS download info?

I dont think its listed, and I may be wrong, but I always thought the info came from the TVGuide Television channel.

Where in the setup menu do you go to find out what station is sending the TVGOS download info?
You should be able to see the "HOST CHAN" in the TVGOS debug menus.

Go to TVG > SETUP > Highlight (but don't press Enter) "CHANGE SYSTEM SETTINGS" > Enter on remote 753159852 (an "X" "I" pattern) > Right arrow to 2nd debug screen > Look down the left column for "HOST CHAN" and the last whole number in right column is the host channel. Press TVG button to exit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZZen
Is it true that this machine can NOT high speed/bit-bit copy an unprotected DVD-R to the Hard drive (for making a couple exact copies, etc) ? Only can do it from DVD-Ram to HD? Really?

I would like to know the answer to this question myself. I have some home video DVD's I'd like to archive to RAM disk.

I have the 75v and attempted to copy a +RW to the hdd but it would not high speed copy. I checked the manual and I believe the +RW was the only media listed as not available for high speed copy to the hard drive, but I havent tried any other media type.

Here are a couple questions I haven't been able to solve:

1. I have a Panasanic 720p plasma. The DVD recorder is hooked up via HDMI. I found a setting that asks if the output should be "progessive", which I answered YES. My friend has an upconverting Panasonic DVD player, and he tells me that his unit has a setting to tell it weather to ouput the signal as either 720p or 1080i. Does the E55 have this choice? I haven't found it.




On units that have a hdmi connection , there should be a sub setting in the setup menu that allows you to make changes to the hdmi resolution. There is an "auto" setting (default, i think) and also the ability to manually force individual resolutions (480/720/1080)

Thanks wabjxo.

I bought the EH55 and own the EH50. One thing that bums me out with the EH55 is when I edit out commercials and high speed to DVD. It doesn't edit at the exact spots I make the cut from.

Anyone experience this issue (non-accurate frame cut-offs)?

Only by re-encoding the video can you achieve frame-accurate cut points. High-speed copying does not re-encode the video (only real-time copying does that), so cut points have to be moved to the nearest so-called Key Frame that does allow a cut to appear according to the MPEG compression technique. Typically these Key Frames are every half second. This is basically a limitation of the MPEG compression technique, which performs not only intra-frame (also called spatial) compression (within each frame) but also inter-frame (also called temporal) compression (between frames).
This is an often-discussed issue here (especially recently).

No, thats not my house on a slant :D .These are 2 crappy pictures I took to show the frame accurate editing between the EH55 at top and EH50 at the bottom. Both were cut at the same spots at the first black screen. The end of the program going into a commercial. Coming out of the commercial and back into the program they were the same. For whatever reason the EH55 loves to cut a little extra at the beginning of the edit. This was after I high speed to disc. The difference is about 7-8 steps on the jog dial from pause whatever that amounts to in frames. You can clearly tell the EH50 is more accurate. Is it maybe because of the 200GB hard drive in the EH55 compared to the 100-120 in the EH50?. The thing is its more obvious when your playing over the edits than looking at pictures. Some might say its not a big deal by looking at it but to each his own I guess. I am picky. :D

EH55
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/1843/dsc0001mt6.jpg

EH50
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4766/dsc0003od4.jpg

Jerry - don't fret.

when I first set up TVGOS - the same thing happened to me - I got the first 2 days worth of data - and the rest of the week said "no listing". I too waited a few days - but still the rest of the week was blank. Then I realized something interesting happened.... the days AFTER the 8th day (from when I turned it on) were starting to get populated.
Let me explain with an example for simplicity. Let's say I set up TVGOS on August 1st. I noticed within a few hours that I had complete listings for August 1st and August 2nd, but that all future days were "no listing". I had expected August 3rd - 8th to fill-in, but they never did. Then I noticed that August 9th, 10th, 11th began to become populated, even though I still had no data for August 3rd - 8th.

Apparently the unit skips days 3-8 when you set it up and then magically picks up afterwards - but never populates those first few days between days 3-8.

I basically accepted the fact that my first week was "incomplete". Ever since that first week - it's been PERFECT. I've got several days worth of data going forward - and all of it's been accurate.

Starting looking a few days forward - you'll see your listings are there.

Good luck!!!

kgrayAVS, you are absolutely correct. I looked ahead more than a day or two and wouldn't you know ALL the listings are there!! :D I guess I was impatient after all?

Thanks,

-Jerry

If You need "CABLE with a CABLE BOX' to receive, is it still possible to watch one show while your recording another ??????

No. Only if the tuner on the recorder can tune channels will that work and even then only when recording one of those channels can you also watch the Cable Box output (if wired for that). If you're recording from the Cable Box then that's it, unless you can tune something on the TV (and the cabel is wired to it).

I've read this thread and I haven't been able to find any solutions.

I have a Panasonic DMR-EH55S DVD recorder (DVDR). Just bought it two weeks ago and started using it to record to plain DVD-R single-layer disks. So far, I have no problems with it. I'm not using it to do programmed recording -- I have Tivo boxes for that.

About a week ago though, I bought some dual-layer (DL) disks to use to copy certain sports programs. Football and NHL games are usually more than 2.5 hours so I need to use DL disks.

I'm having problems with DL disks. Seems like the DMR-EH55S can't copy to DL disks.

What I first do is play back the NFL or NHL game from the Tivo to the DVDR's HD. Then I do some editing and create a playlist so I skip all the commercials. This usually makes the length about 2.5 hours.

I then copy to the DL disks using normal copy speed, without finalizing it at the end of the copy process.

The DVDR copies at normal speed and at the end, it states that it is copying the temporary image from the HD to the disk. Then the DVDR states that it is deleting the temporary image from the HD. Then it reports that there was an error and states that it will turn off and then turn on to try to recover the data. I suspect that the error isn't occuring when the temp file is being deleted but when the DL is being finalized.

And when I try to finalize the disk, the DVDR reports that the disk is either protected, invalid, or defective.

I've tried recording at normal speed with finalizing at the end. The problem still occurs when it's trying to delete the temp. file.

I've also tried copying at high speed vs normal speed. When I copy at high speed, the copy process doesn't complete and before the end, the DVDR reports that there's an error.

I first suspected that it might be the disks themselves. So I tried other brands. I first used Fuji DVD-R DLs. These were mostly inoperable with the DVDR. When I put them in the DVDR, it reported right away that the Fuji disk was not the correct format. A few of them were recognized as a correct disk format but again, when I tried to copy to them, I had problems at the finalizing stage.

I then tried Memorex DVD+R DLs. It reported the same problem when it tried to delete the temp. image from the HD.

I also tried Ridata DVD-R DLs. Again, the same problem with trying to delete the temp. image.

I suspected that the DL disks were having problems with the 2nd layer. So I tried an experiment. I recorded two "titles". One title was 1min. long, the other was 30min. long. Both titles could be recorded on the 1st layer and that the 2nd layer would not be touched.

I was able to copy both titles and finalize it. Then I put the finished DL disk into a normal DVD player. It has problems with the 30min. title. It plays for about 1.5 min., then skips to the 2nd title - it didn't properly record or finalize part of the 1st title.

Has anyone been able to use the DMR-EH55S to copy to a DL disk?

Yes, it does work, As you have, I have used the Memorex DVD+R DLs and the Ridata DVD-R DLs. When I insert a DL disc, the E55 tells me that I cannot record directly to it. "Enter" clears this message and then I go to "DVD Management" where it allows me to give a title to the disc. Then to copy mode where I have recorded 3+hr programs like "The Great Escape" at "xp" speed. These recordings are dubbed at 1x speed and are "FR" speed to the disc [or rather disc image]. At the end of this process, a message says the disc image is being deleted and information is being written to the DL disc; this takes about 30 minutes. Then the DL disc is finalized. All disc recordings have been excellent.

Today I tried a program with a length of 1:25 recorded at "xp" to the HDD. [part 2 of Hdnet’s "War and Peace"] I expected it would maintain the "xp" speed on the recording—and it did.

I have seen none of the problems you mentioned, My Panny DVD recorders have never been real happy with Memorex media, but the Memorex DVD+R DL worked, as have the RIDATA DVD-R DLs.

I have done about 12 DL recordings, Always "xp" on the HDD, "fr" to the DL disc and auto finalize. Takes some time, but works and produces excellent discs.

I can’t see how your source TIVO programs could impact you, so it beginning to look like a defect in your E55.

Yes, it does work, As you have, I have used the Memorex DVD+R DLs and the Ridata DVD-R DLs. When I insert a DL disc, the E55 tells me that I cannot record directly to it. "Enter" clears this message and then I go to "DVD Management" where it allows me to give a title to the disc. Then to copy mode where I have recorded 3+hr programs like "The Great Escape" at "xp" speed. These recordings are dubbed at 1x speed and are "FR" speed to the disc [or rather disc image]. At the end of this process, a message says the disc image is being deleted and information is being written to the DL disc; this takes about 30 minutes. Then the DL disc is finalized. All disc recordings have been excellent.
I see the same thing. The only difference is that I (usually) record to the Panny's HD using SP mode. I've copied to the HD using LP mode but when I copy to the DVD, the resulting disk pixelates too badly. So I stick to XP, SP, or FR (flexible recording). I usually use SP because for XP, I can only squeeze one hour into a single-layer DVD disk.

I've tried 3 different disks: Fuji DVD-R DL, RiData DVD-R DL, and Memorex DVD+R DL.

After inserting the DL disk, I hit enter and then go to Function | Advance Copy to set the copy mode to SP. I've tried other copy modes (high speed, XP) but to control a variable in my experimentation, I only used SP to see what happens.

Here's what happens per disk:
Memorex - a lot of the disks are rejected as either finalized, defective, or invalid disks when I try to copy to it. For a few, the Panny says I need to format it, which I do. When I do copy it, it comes to the end of copying and then tries to transfer the temporary image to the disk. That works. Then I go to the Function | DVD Management and finalize it. It fails every time.

The tally is that I've tried 10 Memorex disks. 7 rejected out of hand after I insert and try to do an advanced copy to it because Panny says it's not a valid disk. For the 3 remaining, I get the problem reported above - finalization fails every time. I tried once to do an Advanced Copy with Finalization. Again, it failed during finalization.

Fuji - I see the same thing ("cannot copy directly to it"). I get a few disks rejected when I attempt to copy, just like the Memorex disk. But more so than the Memorex disks, I am able to copy to some of them.

A) When I just do a copy to the DL disk, without finalizing at the end, it fails every time during finalization. Then it reports a U88 error and states that it will shut itself off and then restart and try to recover the disk. But after it comes up the DL disk is inaccessible.

B)When I do a "copy and finalize", at the end, after the Panny tries to copy the temp. image to the DL disk, it then displays a message saying that it's trying to delete the temp. image file from the HD. It then reports problems at this stage. I doubt the Panny is having problems deleting the file from the HD; I think the Panny tries to finalize the disk while it displays the message about deleting the temp. image and then has problems with the finalization.

RiData DVD-R DL - I can copy to every one of them. They're not rejected out of hand like the Fuji or Memorex. However, I see two problems

1) If I record a show that requires copying to the 2nd side, it has problems just like the Fuji disks - either it has problems during finalization of, if I do a "copy and finalize", it reports problems when it tries to delete the temp. image from the HD.

2) I did a test and copied a 1min show on the RiData. Didn't finalize it. Then I copied a 30min show on the DL. No problems so far. Then I copied another 1 min show on the DL. Afterwards, I went to DVD Management and finalized it. All this suceeded.

Then I took the DL disk out and put it in my Sony DVD player. It played the 1min shows fine. But when it tried to play back the 30 min. shows, it skips. The timer will show the DL DVD being read, then be stuck at certain points, and then skip to the next title on the DVD.

I tried this experiment three times. Every DL DVD I copied and finalized had problems with playback on other DVD players. I don't think the Panny is writing correctly to the DL disk, even to one side. This is strange because if I copy to a single-layer disk, which I've done 30-40 times already, I have no problems with the playback on the same Sony DVD player.


Today I tried a program with a length of 1:25 recorded at "xp" to the HDD. [part 2 of Hdnet’s "War and Peace"] I expected it would maintain the "xp" speed on the recording—and it did.
The speed that you record to the HD (XP vs SP) shouldn't matter to the dual-layer disk, should it?

I have seen none of the problems you mentioned, My Panny DVD recorders have never been real happy with Memorex media, but the Memorex DVD+R DL worked, as have the RIDATA DVD-R DLs.

I have done about 12 DL recordings, Always "xp" on the HDD, "fr" to the DL disc and auto finalize. Takes some time, but works and produces excellent discs.
Q1) Should it make a difference what mode you used to record to the HDD? I'm thinking it shouldn't but I could be wrong.

Q2) Have you tried copying to the DL disk and then finalizing separately?

Q3) Have you tried copying to the DL disk at high-speed mode?

I can’t see how your source TIVO programs could impact you, so it beginning to look like a defect in your E55.
I'm starting to think that too. I will call Panny to see if they can resolve it. Then call the online store to return it for an exchange.

Yes, it does work, As you have, I have used the Memorex DVD+R DLs and the Ridata DVD-R DLs. When I insert a DL disc, the E55 tells me that I cannot record directly to it. "Enter" clears this message and then I go to "DVD Management" where it allows me to give a title to the disc. Then to copy mode where I have recorded 3+hr programs like "The Great Escape" at "xp" speed. These recordings are dubbed at 1x speed and are "FR" speed to the disc [or rather disc image]. At the end of this process, a message says the disc image is being deleted and information is being written to the DL disc; this takes about 30 minutes. Then the DL disc is finalized. All disc recordings have been excellent.

Today I tried a program with a length of 1:25 recorded at "xp" to the HDD. [part 2 of Hdnet’s "War and Peace"] I expected it would maintain the "xp" speed on the recording—and it did.

I have seen none of the problems you mentioned, My Panny DVD recorders have never been real happy with Memorex media, but the Memorex DVD+R DL worked, as have the RIDATA DVD-R DLs.

I have done about 12 DL recordings, Always "xp" on the HDD, "fr" to the DL disc and auto finalize. Takes some time, but works and produces excellent discs.

I can’t see how your source TIVO programs could impact you, so it beginning to look like a defect in your E55.

Have you figured out any way to have it create chapters or to create chapters yourself on your Memorex DVD+R DL disks? I can't. It would be strange if you could not do this.

Q1) Should it make a difference what mode you used to record to the HDD? I'm thinking it shouldn't but I could be wrong.
I wouldn’t think so. I just try for the best quality throughout the process.

Q2) Have you tried copying to the DL disk and then finalizing separately?
No. I am using DL discs only when I want to maintain quality, which to me is a "FR" speed that is between "SP" and "XP". I pre-title the DL disc and then use the regular copy function to dub the program(s). To me, the less monkeying around with an unfinalized –R disc, the better.

Q3) Have you tried copying to the DL disk at high-speed mode?
Yes. That 1:25 program I mentioned was done at High Speed and gave me an "XP" recording on the DL disc, since it was over an hour long. The bit rate on the DL disc is the same as the HD original. The actual recording mode was set at "fr", but since there was plenty of headroom on the DL, the Panny went into high speed mode.

The speed that you record to the HD (XP vs. SP) shouldn't matter to the dual-layer disk, should it?

No. but it may impact weather you do high speed or 1X copy.


Have you figured out any way to have it create chapters or to create chapters yourself on your Memorex DVD+R DL disks? I can't. It would be strange if you could not do this.


After the first trials with 3 [in a box] Memorex DVD+R DL disks---all worked fine, I stopped using Memorex. Have had previous bad times with Memorex DVD media. I do all my "chaptering", dividing, thumbs, etc. on the HDD prior to dubbing. So much easier! Currently using the Ridata DVD-R DLs.

After the first trials with 3 [in a box] Memorex DVD+R DL disks---all worked fine, I stopped using Memorex. Have had previous bad times with Memorex DVD media. I do all my "chaptering", dividing, thumbs, etc. on the HDD prior to dubbing. So much easier! Currently using the Ridata DVD-R DLs.

So it worked for you on Memorex DVD+R DL disks? What step am I missing? I have tried the following:

Recording to DL disks hoping that the auto chapter will work.

Creating the chapters myself on the HDD and then recording to the DL disk.

Neither works for me. I may try to pick up some of those brand of disks that you mentioned. But dual layer disks are so expensive. I wish I could figure out how to do it with the disks that I have. Is it because I am recording at FR speed instead of High Speed? I can't record at high speed because my videos run about 2.5 hours.

Thanks for any help you could provide Grizbear.

I don't see how the brand of media would have any effect on whether chapter marks are written to the disc or not.

I don't see how the brand of media would have any effect on whether chapter marks are written to the disc or not.

Agreed.

Just picked up an EH55 and not impressed:
-SP is too blocky & pixellated
-tuner is very noisy
-specs boast 6X DVD-RW, but says 4X max, but in fact only 2X on RiData -RW's
-CM skip delays for a bit before skipping and there's no back skip
-no EJECT button on the remote

the good:
-PQ is excellent (but only in XP mode)
-the TBC is the best I've seen so far even on the worst tapes.

This puppy is going back. It's workable, I'd keep it but the price is too steep for it's shortcomings.

I'm trying to copy a PLAYLIST to disc and must be missing something obvious.

-press "FUNCTIONS" button and select "COPY"
-the "COPY NAVIGATOR" screen comes up with a listing of all the TITLES on the HDD for selection (but PLAYLISTS are not listed here)

or

-press "FUNCTIONS" button and select "ADVANCED COPY"
1. Copying Direction: HDD->DVD
2. Mode: Video High Speed
3. Create List: New Entry--lists all TITLES on HDD but no PLAYLISTS


How can I choose a PLAYLIST? Please help!

Sounds like you have your playlist already built and are merely trying to select it for your copy list.

If I'm right, then when get your list of titles displayed, press "B" on the remote to get the listing of Playlists.

Sounds like you have your playlist already built and are merely trying to select it for your copy list.

If I'm right, then when get your list of titles displayed, press "B" on the remote to get the listing of Playlists.
Hey Richard, thanks for the reply!
Yes, my playlists are prepared. After reading your suggestion and referring to the manual it says exactly that and has a diagram depicting it.
HOWEVER on my screen it was showing A-Video, B-Picture! (instead of B-Playlist). I fiddled around with it and the option eventually switched over to "B-Playlist". This appears to be only possible with "Advanced Copy" and not normal "Copy", is that right???
Thanks again!

The reason I wasn't more specific is the EH55 is at the church and I am at home so I was going from memory. I use "Advanced Copy", so I'm not that familiar with the "Copy" options.

Anyway, sounds like that little nudge was enough to help you solve your problem.

I use "Advanced Copy", so I'm not that familiar with the "Copy" options.
On EH55 the copy function seems to be convenient for copying one title from the HD to DVD. I haven't been able to copy the other direction that way and for more than one title advanced copy seems to do the job.
Bob R.

After working on the EH55 today, I can shed a little more light on the Copy subject. The Copy is a "copy and finalize". Period. This may be ok if I pre-enter the disc name and pre-select the "First Play" option, and if I have selected the thumbnail and copy at high speed.

Thumbnails and chapter markers are lost in a real-time copy. I use real-time copy to get rid of the freezes at edit points in my rather extensive edits. So I really need access to the dvd between the copy phase and finalize in order to restore my thumbnail selection. I guess that's why I've been using Advanced Copy, without remembering the reason why. That, plus, as sandpalm discovered, "Copy" doesn't give access to Playlists, which I use for editting.

I found the Panasonic DMR-EH55 for $430. Any other good deals out there?

yeah, i've seen the 430dollar deal too. From reading this thread it sounds like a bunch of tech head gobbledy gook. My question is, Is this machine worth 430 or just another DVR headache???

yeah, i've seen the 430dollar deal too. From reading this thread it sounds like a bunch of tech head gobbledy gook. My question is, Is this machine worth 430 or just another DVR headache???
From your comment, for you it might be a DVR headache, not trying to be nasty but some people, including my wife, would rather have someone else set the vcr, etc.
In my case, I've come to love my panasonic EH55 in just a month and have created some 75 dvd's from my class reunion (images, videos, music, etc. from previous reunions etc. I've started copying personal videos from VHS and editing out ex-sob's in law (the good ones can stay in the video) :D
I got my EH55 from 6th AVENUE packaged in a separate shipping box, came in perfect condition. $429 = 6 cents shipping :cool:
Bob R.

If you don't live in NYS you can also get it from J&R (no sales tax). They'll price match over the phone. No restocking fee for mail orders.

I got a Pioneer DVD recorder and they also shipped with an exterior box (as opposed to sticking a UPS label onto the OEM box)

Also, if you are a Continental airlines frequent flyer, check if they still offer it for about $400 shipped (plus redemption of 100 miles). Look under Home > OnePass > Use Miles > Non-travel Rewards > Miles for Merchandise (sorry forgot my PIN so I'm unable to check). Word of warning, going this route may mean no returns.

well bob, this thread is partitially titled "user review" I was just noting there were ALOT of question/answers WITH NO REVIEWS. So does everyone like the 55?

well bob, this thread is partitially titled "user review" I was just noting there were ALOT of question/answers WITH NO REVIEWS. So does everyone like the 55?
You'll find some negative reviews, I was going to point to one where the guy said "this baby goes back" but the search function died so I couldn't find it. I'd guess 85-90% of those who bought this machine like it. Maybe we should build a poll :cool:
Bob R.

i agree Bob, start a poll. Hey, it's time for a techie question. Just talked to the manger of the local cable company and he says they have a tv guide that downloads into the motorola terminals. Will that work with the panasonic? or do I need more information from him.

i agree Bob, start a poll. Hey, it's time for a techie question. Just talked to the manger of the local cable company and he says they have a tv guide that downloads into the motorola terminals. Will that work with the panasonic? or do I need more information from him.
I'm not sure about "motorola terminals" but I have MEDIACOM and I press the TV GUIDE button and voila there it is, set recordings, etc. WORKS FOR ME (as HUNTER used to say ... tv program with Fred Dryer ... a favorite of mine.) :D
There's a lot more about TVGOS on this forum .. do a search on TVGOS
Bob R.

My "Review" after a couple of months, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being perfect, Id say 8.5.

It is a flexible and powerful machine with a few idiosyncracies.

Pros:
Writes to all the popular formats, dvd-r, dvd-rw, dvd+r, dvd+rw,dvd-ram, and dl
DV input
Hdd
Copies dvd to hdd
Seamless playback (eliminates the freezes at edit points)
One step COPY (and finalize), Advanced Copy offers choice, COPY ONLY or COPY AND FINALIZE
High speed COPY retains the selected Thumbnail and Chapter Markers
When entering a name for a Title or Playlist, a box shows how it will appear on the Menu

Cons:
Many of the options are buried 3 or more layers deep in the Menus
Real time Copy loses the preset thumbnail and chapter points
The "TV Guide" key is just above the up arrow, and if hit while entering a name, loses the name

Features I Miss:
Defining scenes on the Playlist using START and END times rather than Chapters (E100H)
"Refresh" option for the new recording to replace the previous. (E100H)
Let Timer Recording give the recording a name (E100H)

I'll probably be adding more as I think of them. I don't need or use TVGOS, I'm not now even using timer recording.

Richard

I presently have a panasonic DMR-E85H that I love, but wish the guide worked with Directv. I see that the new EH55's guide works with Directv. Now my question. The American version is a DMR-EH55S that is guaranteed to work, but the Canadian version is listed at DMR-EH55. Is this going to work with my Directv for the guide or are both machines exactally the same? Thanks

[QUOTE=rgazzara]For a list of TVGOS-supported DirecTV receivers click[
QUOTE]

anyone try a sony b55 or the new directv H20 with this unit.

I presently have a panasonic DMR-E85H that I love, but wish the guide worked with Directv. I see that the new EH55's guide works with Directv. Now my question. The American version is a DMR-EH55S that is guaranteed to work, but the Canadian version is listed at DMR-EH55. Is this going to work with my Directv for the guide or are both machines exactally the same? Thanks

The "S" stands for Silver versus "K" which stands for "black" so they are the same unit. My DMR-EH55S would not work with my DirecTV HD Tivo HR10-250 STB. I do not know whether it works with other DirecTV STBs.

steve1214 , I got the TVGOS WORKING!!!
I just received my DMR-EH55S yesterday and as usual with Panasonic, the manual is a mess.
smackbottom, Your trials and tribulations with the TVGOS may have saved me a bunch of time :) . I have a D* H20 box and will try something very similar, trying to get the guide data OTA by splitting my ant. lead. Hopefully one of the local stations will supply the guide data. If not, I'm going to abandon the whole damn TVGOS thing, if I can.

I have tried to get rid of the guide by resetting the DVR (ch+,CH-, return, as per the manual), but it keeps coming back to the TVGOS setup screen every time I hit "schedule" :( . Seeing those huge TV Guide logos is irritating to say the least. My old DMR-80H was a snap to set manually and I got used to it. This one is not that easy but I'll get used to it too.

^^ You must still go through the TV Guide setup after dumping the guide info after pressing ch up/down, in order to set the unit to allow you to manually set the clock and manual program channels. If you don't, the guide will take over again, when the unit is turned off...

I currently have the Philips from walmart. it's frozen up twice before installing the update software a week ago. If it freezes again then it goes back to the store and J&R will be my next stop. Has anyone's Panasonic 55 froze up yet? and does it require unplugging the unit or there a keypad trick which doesn't involve finding the power cord?

I currently have the Philips from walmart. it's frozen up twice before installing the update software a week ago. If it freezes again then it goes back to the store and J&R will be my next stop. Has anyone's Panasonic 55 froze up yet? and does it require unplugging the unit or there a keypad trick which doesn't involve finding the power cord?
I had this problem which may or may not be similar to yours:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=730191

After that time I've never had another problem (other than some "operator" problems).
Bob R.

I just received my DMR-EH55S yesterday and as usual with Panasonic, the manual is a mess.
smackbottom, Your trials and tribulations with the TVGOS may have saved me a bunch of time :) . I have a D* H20 box and will try something very similar, trying to get the guide data OTA by splitting my ant. lead. Hopefully one of the local stations will supply the guide data. If not, I'm going to abandon the whole damn TVGOS thing, if I can.

I have tried to get rid of the guide by resetting the DVR (ch+,CH-, return, as per the manual), but it keeps coming back to the TVGOS setup screen every time I hit "schedule" :( . Seeing those huge TV Guide logos is irritating to say the least. My old DMR-80H was a snap to set manually and I got used to it. This one is not that easy but I'll get used to it too.

That'd be great. I'd like to know before I drop another $500.

How are chapter marks preserved on the Panny? In other brands the chapters drift a bit after HS copying. On the Pioneer 640H you can get the edit marks exact to the frame except you can only copy in real time which is a pain. On the Toshiba, I worked it out to about 12 steps drift soI more or less can estimate the chapter marks. The Pioneer also does not have any other chapter creation or editting capabilties other than to just create one. It cannot give you chapter thumbnails or place them on the menu. I assume the Panny can?

When I discovered that this recorder has a DVD-RAM drive and a firewire port, I thought it might be cool to use it to back-up data off of my desktop PC. However, the manual says that the firewire connection doesn’t work with computers. Has anyone tied this to see what happens if you try to connect it to a PC via firewire?

If it doesn’t work, well….all I can say is….that is really really stupid.

Happily, the EH55 allows me to not use TVGOS. After a couple of days of searching in vain for EPG data, a screen popped up asking if I wanted to stop trying - which I did. Great feature for those of us out of the country who need to use manual recordings.

However, one challenge remains for me. I can't seem to manually adjust the time. WHen I go to the right menu screen, the time change is greyed out. I think that the machine in its initial EPG scan must have picked up a time signal or something. Soon North America will adjust clocks for daylight savings. Where I'm living doesn't do aylight savings. I fear that when the time change happens, my unit will be an hour out of synch. Anyone know if there a way to manually change time in this situation?

bunu:

I'll look through the users manual and see what it says about DST. The panny vcr I have used always had a setting for DST yes or no so the user can switch it on or off.

bunu:

On your "Set Clock Manually" screen, one of the options is DST with a box under it for On or Off. Switching it to Off should keep you clock from adjusting automagiccally for daylight savings time ("DST").

Hope this helps you....

Does anyone know if data, such as MS Office files, on an SD card can be copied to a DVD-RAM disc on this machine?

Only multimedia files can be transferred to DVD-RAM from SD cards using these recorders.

I purchased the unit in early September, and for about three weeks TVGOS worked perfectly. Then, the TVGOS data disappeared. Not to worry, I've read that others experienced a similar problem, and patiently waited for new data to appear. Data showed up, kind of hit and miss, then "no listing" across the board. I've tried resetting defaults and then rerunning setup, no luck. It just can't find the channel with the listing data. I've called Panasonic help, and been referred to a local shop, but am wondering if there is anything I'm missing: for example, I haven't been able to find a way to reset the channel listing (you can restore system defaults, but it saves the channel listing).

I'd really appreciate any help: I'm using Directv with local channels coming from the Seattle area.

Jim

jim
what receiver do you have?

It's a Directv model D10-300, which is a known "good" receiver from the vgi web site.

bunu:

On your "Set Clock Manually" screen, one of the options is DST with a box under it for On or Off. Switching it to Off should keep you clock from adjusting automagiccally for daylight savings time ("DST").

Hope this helps you....

Thanks Shiney6188W for the tips. Am I right that this is a TVGOS menu and not part of the DIGA menu?

I don't use TVGOS so I've flipped to page 64 of the manual and it tells me to go thru functions, other functions, setup, setup, clock settings. This is where I get lost. The clock settings function is greyed out and can't be selected. Thus I can't even pick clock settings to get to any sub-menu with a "set clock manually" or even Adjust Time Zone". Thing is that I used to have that option.

To get to the screen you mention, do I have to reset the machine to factory default settings and go thru the initial setup process? I think that the unit did find a PBS channel in the initial setup and this weekend it automatically updated the time, despite the fact that the TVGOS listings function is disabled.

Does that even make sense?

Yes, you are making sense.

I am not a user of this product; Just a guy that has been reading through the user's manual so I am looking at the same information you have.

Maybe someone who has some experience using this product can help you out.

A reset to factory settings does sound like a good idea though given your circumstances.

Only multimedia files can be transferred to DVD-RAM from SD cards using these recorders.

Thanks for the information.

I happen to think this "limitation" is very stupid. I would have purchased this product by now but for the fact that I can't move data from a desktop PC's hard drive to the unit's DVD-RAM drive. This thing could have been three cool products in one, but no......Panasonic couldn't do that.

It's not just Panasonic, no standalone DVD Recorder can do that. They're designed to be DVD Recorders, not do various things unrelated to recording DVDs. With a DVD-RAM drive connected to your PC, you can move those files easily. I'm not sure why you also need a DVD Recorder to be able to do this.

It's not just Panasonic, no standalone DVD Recorder can do that. They're designed to be DVD Recorders, not do various things unrelated to recording DVDs. With a DVD-RAM drive connected to your PC, you can move those files easily. I'm not sure why you also need a DVD Recorder to be able to do this.

So I don't have to have another separate DVD-RAM drive.

I've had my Panasonic DMR-EH55S Video Recorder for a week now and here is my take:

:) Pros:

Much faster turn-on, copying and menu access than previous models.
Excellent Picture Quality of recorded material.
Can copy from DVD to HDD (non copy protected)
HDD goes to “Sleep” after 30 minutes of non-use.
Can record to and copy from HDD to a wide array of DVD media, incl. DVD R/W and DL.
Has a D/V (Fire Wire) input for Digital Camcorders.
Allows automatic Finalization of DVDs.
Places chapter marks every 5-8 minutes on DVD copied from HDD except in High Speed mode.
Editing is easy and precise.
Fan and HDD are quiet.

:( Cons:

Users Manual is not well organized and has incomplete index.
TV Guide is difficult if not impossible to setup (ugly logos).
No Eject button on remote.
Eject button on unit is not logically placed, drive on left, button on far right.
Can not record directly to DL disks, must record to HDD then copy to DVD.

I've been playing with my new EH55 for about 4 days. One curious thing I noticed is at least one of the stations it pulls in using the TVGOS is different from what my other Pannys get (T6070, E500, EH50 and E95).

On the older units, one pet peeve I've had is where I live (AZ) we get a mixture of west coast and non west coast feeds. On these units one station (at least) that I get the non west coast feed is TBS. So when I look in the newspaper or TV Guide I see a movie and the time, but on the units' TVGOS that movie is 3 hours off (maybe 2 now that we don't change the clocks). But when I look at what's playing on the screen it matches the newspaper listing, NOT what the TVGOS says is on.

The EH55 is the first model I've had that downloads a TVGOS that says TBSw (for the west coast feed) and all the shows listed on the unit's TVGOS match what's on and what the newspaper says s/b on.

I'm curious how this works since the TVGOS is coming each night to all my units from the same source and I would think they should all be the same.

The 2006 Panasonic DVD recorders have a newer version of the TVGOS software. That may explain the difference.

The 2006 Panasonic DVD recorders have a newer version of the TVGOS software. That may explain the difference.

I didn't know that. Wonder why Panasonic doesn't make it available as a download on their site.

Yep, on the E85 and E100, you must record in real time to get the seamless playback from the recorded disc. Makes sense, playback is in real time, and apparently the pauses are coded out in the re-encoding process. And you lose your preset chapter points, with the automatically reinserted skip-to markers. In high speed dub, you keep your chapter points, but have the pauses.

Much depends on the purpose for the dub. In my case, where I do editting and trimming for broadcast over a local Low Power TV station, the pauses are unacceptable, and the chapter markers are of no use, so real time dubs have become routine. Also, real time dubs seem to be more reliable.

For other applications, where the editting is less aggresive and I want to retain the chapter skips, I use the high speed dubs. Nice to have both options available.

And a question addressed to Bruce: don't you have to define "chapters" in order to have something to earse, or to save? (Like on the E85.) Hopefully, in a few days the EH55 will be here and I'll be able to join your fun!

Thanks, All.

Richard

I don't like this pause bug. The Toshiba I had before never had this problem. Granted it has other problems but if other machines can do it any not a high priced Panny?

Hi,
anybody else having this problem? When I watch something I recorded on HDD, then turn off in the middle and want to watch later it doesn't remember the position I stoped watching? Is there somethimg in the setup menu I have to turn on or why does this happen? I had the Toshiba XS32 before and that worked perfectly, he remebered every position of every single recording on the HDD.

My other problem with the freezing came back last time, I had to reset it :-(...

Piledriver

The Toshiba XS32 was the best user friendly machine ever built IMO. I had not realized all the features it had that were missing on other machines. Too bad they took a lot of that away by implementing the TVGOS and removing other useful features. I sure miss it.

I have finally given up on the TVGOS for my new EH55 :( . I tried every connection I could think of to get the guide info and none worked. I have a D* H20 STB and that seems to be the problem. The ’55 apparently does not support my receiver. I guess it only works with some D* receivers. Panasonic’s saying it works with DirecTV is not exactly truthful.
Just in case I missed something, has anyone come up with a way to get TVGOS to work with an H20 STB?

same problem here. I'm returning the eh55 and sticking with my E85h. Couldn't get it to work with the H20 (couldn't find the remote code). And my sony B55 just kept on scanning and scanning and scanning. Guess I'll save myself some $$$ and keep my present recorder.

Haven't got my DirecTV with UTV receiver to work with TVGOS either and it is a real pain in the ass to reset the clock, requireing a full EH55 reset and going through the full setup procedure.

I'm not one that gives up easily, So I experimented with the placement of the “IR Blaster” in front of the H20 and found it needs to be placed about 6” in front of the H20, lying on its back, level to the shelf the box sits on. This is rather inconvenient but the code 1378 did make the ’55 switch the channels on the H20. The placement of the Blaster is very critical, probably due to the design of the H20. Code 1378 is the second code the setup tries. When testing, it switched to ch. 224 the TV Guide channel (who would have thought). After completing the setup, I turned the ’55 off (standby) and it started trying channels switching about every 1.5 minutes or so. It is going to take a lot of time to go through them all! This is the first time I have seen this thing even try to work. My STB is an H20-100, by the way.

As to whether it will find the guide data remains to be seen. The H20 must be left ON and the ’55 OFF for it to do its job . If you turn the ’55 off during the day while watching TV the thing will switch channels on you, so leave the “55 on while watching TV and turn it OFF at night. No need to worry about the HDD being stressed, it will go to sleep after about 30 minutes if not being accessed.

I’ll report back with my results, Snuffy

Update: I reset the box and re-started the setup. I had to try the code 1378 some 4 or 5 times to get it to take. Once it took, it seemed to switch channels in an unusual way, testing 0, 1, 2, 200, 201, 0, 0, etc.

interesting...let me know...mind you it did the same thing with my sony for a day and a 1/2 with no results (Sony B55)

Well . . . . I let it run for over 12 hrs and it did not find the guide data :( A little further experimenting this morning, I found that the channels were being selected incompletely, only the first 1 or 2 digits, example 200 was setting 2 or 20. I moved the IR Blaster out to 2 feet on the floor and it sellects correctly (224, 200 201, 202, etc.). Of course this is totaly impractical :eek: I think the "Blaster" is overloading the H20's sensor or it could be the aiming.

The code 1378 is correct for the H20 and the Blaster to Sensor thing is the problem. Still, I don't know if the Panny will find the data even with the thing in the middle of the floor. I'm not sending mine back, so I've got time to do some further experiments.

11/6 Update: Totally dissatisfied with placing the Blaster on the floor 2ft. in front of the H20, I searched the Net for a better solution. To my surprise, I think I have found it, of all places, on the TiVo Community Forum. A member there, “MRELK2”, found that placing the Blaster over on the right under and in front of the “Active” button about 1in. out, works. Since this is nowhere near the sensor, it shouldn’t work, but I tried it and it does work! It seems to switch channels accurately and reliably. Now to wait for the results of the scan . . .

11/8 Update: After 2 days, the scan produced no guide channel or data. I think the D*'s H20 is blocking the TVGOS data and this receiver will not work with the 'EH55 for TVGOS! My calls to Panasonic, Directv and TV Guide were a waste of time. Everybody blames the others. :(

I'll just use manual recording, Snuffy

ZZen, if you want to use gutter language, why don't you go to a gutter forum? I've heard barracks language, and yes, I find it offensive. Grow up.

This is a DVD Recorder forum, and gutter language adds nothing to the enlightenment of the questions, but does say a lot about the writer.

Richard

I've had this unit for the past month and so far, it's been a great machine. I've been recording some television shows and editing out commercials. I have burned to DVD-R using high speed mode without any problems.

However, I wanted to practice with the DVD-RAM disk that came with the recorder and want to make sure I understand something. Tonight I practiced with the disk and when I first inserted it into the recorder I received a weird message indicating that I basically couldn't burn to it. I hit enter and was able to get into the functions to add titles to the disk. I had 5 programs on my list, 3 of which were recorded on SP mode and the other 2 on LP mode. I chose Flexible recording so that everything would fit on one disk. It appeared to copy but seemed to do so in real time. What I want to know is whether the burning in real time is because I've chosen FR. I'm guessing that at this point it will not copy at a high speed. Am I missing something or will it burn in real time because of FR?

I've had this unit for the past month and so far, it's been a great machine. I've been recording some television shows and editing out commercials. I have burned to DVD-R using high speed mode without any problems.

However, I wanted to practice with the DVD-RAM disk that came with the recorder and want to make sure I understand something. Tonight I practiced with the disk and when I first inserted it into the recorder I received a weird message indicating that I basically couldn't burn to it. I hit enter and was able to get into the functions to add titles to the disk. I had 5 programs on my list, 3 of which were recorded on SP mode and the other 2 on LP mode. I chose Flexible recording so that everything would fit on one disk. It appeared to copy but seemed to do so in real time. What I want to know is whether the burning in real time is because I've chosen FR. I'm guessing that at this point it will not copy at a high speed. Am I missing something or will it burn in real time because of FR?
I have never used a DVD-RAM disk nor thought much about them. I think they have to be formatted before use and that may be what the message was.
FR or Flexible Recording fits your play list or title on the target DVD. It constantly changes the bit rate so as to perfectly fit the material onto the disk with nothing left over. It has more to do with the length of your video than the speed they were recorder at. If you have 2.5 hrs. of video it will be compressed to fit the 2 hr. DVD @ less than SP. If your video is 1.5 hrs. it will be expanded to fit the 2 hr. DVD @ more than SP. To do this, the video must play on the screen in real time while the copy is being made. The manual says you can't copy to a DVD-RAM at high speed.

I've had this unit for the past month and so far, it's been a great machine. I've been recording some television shows and editing out commercials. I have burned to DVD-R using high speed mode without any problems.

However, I wanted to practice with the DVD-RAM disk that came with the recorder and want to make sure I understand something. Tonight I practiced with the disk and when I first inserted it into the recorder I received a weird message indicating that I basically couldn't burn to it. I hit enter and was able to get into the functions to add titles to the disk. I had 5 programs on my list, 3 of which were recorded on SP mode and the other 2 on LP mode. I chose Flexible recording so that everything would fit on one disk. It appeared to copy but seemed to do so in real time. What I want to know is whether the burning in real time is because I've chosen FR. I'm guessing that at this point it will not copy at a high speed. Am I missing something or will it burn in real time because of FR?

All Flex Record dubbing to a disc-RAM or -/+R, RW, will be in real time, the combined length of all the shows you are transferring.
The purpose of FR is to allow recordings of various lengths to be placed on a single disc (4.7 GB) regardless of their combined length. The recorder will, as explained in the post above, vary the bit rate in order to squeeze the programs onto the disc. Also, use of FR, will eliminate all chapter marks that you may have placed within the shows on the hdd, robbing you of the ability to advance to scenes you've marked when playing back...
I have 2 Panasonics-an E85 hard drive model, and the dvd/vhs combo recorder, and I don't recall RAM discs needing to be formatted when I first started using them. If you get this message again, simpy try formatting it. Format wipes all infomation from the disc, and you can find it under Disc Management in the Functions menu. Make sure the unit is switched to the DVD side-you do not want to accidently erase all the material on the hard drive (HDD). And you can high speed dub to RAM disc.

ZZen, if you want to use gutter language, why don't you go to a gutter forum? I've heard barracks language, and yes, I find it offensive. Grow up.

This is a DVD Recorder forum, and gutter language adds nothing to the enlightenment of the questions, but does say a lot about the writer.

Richard

Gutter language? Grow up? Look in the mirror Richard with regards to your far-fetched, inaccurate and baseless reply to my post. Nowhere did I advocate, or myself use "gutter language". Of course I don't want to see posts full of #$%$ or $$#*# or #$$^% left, right and center. HWD3 didn't do that (one single extremely mild three letter word..that's it! no curse fiilled rant, no # this, $ that...if the guy was swearing all over the place then I would agree 100% with cosmo but that was not the case by far), I didn't do that, and I didn't say we should. DO NOT put words in my mouth. You're just conjuring up things that I never said nor meant which renders your response baseless and ineffectual. Nothing I said in my post lays even one iota of a foundation for your post.

A custom version of my reply to cosmo just for you (and 100% accurate):
---
Richard - your hypersensitive, uber-judgemental, condescending, high-horse riding post shows what kind of person HWD3 and the rest of us are dealing with. We're adults here and if such a totally G-rated and innocuous phrase as "pain in the ass" offends your moral sensibilities that is just fine. Just don't push that on us. Cheers.
------
This will be my last post on this (non) issue. If you are the sort that needs to have the last word you may have it as I won't contribute any further to this.

Sorry guys just don't take well to people who talk in a condescending manner. Back to the Panny DVDR stuff now!

Posted this in the Pio 640 thread also but I thought all the guys on the EH55 thread might have some input.

Heys guys a question re: using RW discs. I'm curious what is the use of them really? I mean with a HDD machine (640, EH55, etc) you already have lots of rewritable space for temp storage and stuff. Then only the stuff you want to keep you can burn to an R or R DL. So what are you guys using RW's for? Just for practicing burns? Thx!

Thanks all for the input. I did look through the manual but found it a bit confusing, but the FR in real time does make sense. Didn't have time to complete the process last night but I will sometime this week.

I'm going to buy a few DVD-R Dual Layer disks to try on this unit. My understanding from browsing through this thread is that those of you who have tried DL disks have had luck with Ridata. Before I buy a cakebox I'm going to buy a few to try but in the Verbatim brand, the kind that doesn't need flipping supposedly. I'm hoping to transfer some programs from HDD to the DL hopefully without problems.

Posted this in the Pio 640 thread also but I thought all the guys on the EH55 thread might have some input.

Heys guys a question re: using RW discs. I'm curious what is the use of them really? I mean with a HDD machine (640, EH55, etc) you already have lots of rewritable space for temp storage and stuff. Then only the stuff you want to keep you can burn to an R or R DL. So what are you guys using RW's for? Just for practicing burns? Thx!
A strange phenomenom developes after getting a hdd model. It's the instense desire to hold on to stuff that, back in your vcr days, you would've taped over right after watching. :D Suddenly, that 120, 250 GB hdd fills up pretty quickly, loaded with recordings you don't want to part with right away. RWs allow you to offload shows that you may want to watch a few times before ultimately erasing.

A strange phenomenom developes after getting a hdd model. It's the instense desire to hold on to stuff that, back in your vcr days, you would've taped over right after watching. :D Suddenly, that 120, 250 GB hdd fills up pretty quickly, loaded with recordings you don't want to part with right away. RWs allow you to offload shows that you may want to watch a few times before ultimately erasing.

Westly-C! I think you might be on to something with that. Come to think of it I've been watching my HDD fill up past half way now because even though I planned to dump stuff off right away after watching, a lot of it I can't seem to bring myself to delete just yet. The stuff I want to keep for sure I've burned to R's already but some stuff is kind of in limbo, haha. I'll have to decide something to do with them soon otherwise the HDD will be full. I might just pick up a small spindle/pack of RW's after all. Not much difference with -RW or +RW's for this purpose?

Thx!

DVD RWs are still kinda pricey for archiving programs fron the HDD. I recently purchased a spindle of 100 4X DVD-Rs, on sale, from CompUSA for $20. At 20 cents per disk, you could just throw them away if you don't want to keep the video. DVD RWs are usually slower to record and have to be formatted before each use. One other thing, stuff you keep on the HDD can be in jeopardy if the DVR or it's HDD decides to crap-out and you have to send it back for service.

BTW, "crap-out" is a dice term and not gutter language so I hope the language police don't jump on me. :rolleyes:

a few questions about the Panasonic DMR-EH55

how many seconds is the commercial skip?

how many seconds is the backup button?

where is the commercial skip key located on the remote?

are the remote buttons easily pushed, are they recessed?

does the panasonic automatically delete old shows on the HD when requiring new space?

after finishing timer recording, does the current show you're watching on the hd shut off or stay on?

thanks in advance

how many seconds is the commercial skip?
A: about 1 second.

how many seconds is the backup button?
A: No such button on the ‘EH55.

where is the commercial skip key located on the remote?
A: in the lower right corner.

are the remote buttons easily pushed, are they recessed?
A: easy enough to use but not easily pushed by accident, not recessed.

does the panasonic automatically delete old shows on the HD when requiring new space?
A: Not sure, I haven’t maxed mine out but I suspect not.

after finishing timer recording, does the current show you're watching on the hd shut off or stay on?
A: It stays on.

For more detailed info, see:
http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMREH55.PDF

Yes, a dvd-ram must be formatted before it can be used. Those I've used recently must come pre-formatted, because I don't recall formatting before use. If it needs it, the machine will tell you.

Another little side benefit of real-time copying (as in FR) is that it eliminates all those irritating "freezes" at edit points.

A couple of questions that I may comment on: Does the Panasonic automatacally delete old shows? Not the EH55. The E100 does; but that feature went out when TVGOS came in.

And if I may take exception to a previous comment, re the remote buttons not easily pushed by accident--- the TVGOS button is just above the "UP" arrow on the remote, and more than once I have pushed the TVGOS instead of UP when entering a name. Doing so purges the name, and I get to start over.

Richard

[QUOTE=Snuffy101]how many seconds is the backup button?
A: No such button on the ‘EH55.

It seems to me the "backup button" on the EH55 is the "Slow/Search" << (the left button of the two buttons under that heading) ... in play mode, this button can be tapped multiple times to move back "really fast" (see manual for definition of really fast). :cool:
Bob R.

I'm guessing that at this point it will not copy at a high speed. Am I missing something or will it burn in real time because of FR?

And you can high speed dub to RAM disc.

BUT I believe ONLY if you recorded in SP (2 hr) or XP (1hr). No FR and No "mixed modes" ... Further details on p. 49 of the EH55 manual.
Bob R.

how many seconds is the commercial skip?
A: about 1 second.Surely more than one second of video is skipped as a result of pressing the Commercial Skip button.

just finished reading the manual, he probably means one minute on the commercial skip. Bet it's no fun when they have 3min30sec commercial breaks :)

Surely more than one second of video is skipped as a result of pressing the Commercial Skip button.
I wish it were so, the button ain’t that smart. If someone could come up with a way to detect commercials and skip them, it would be great. Ain't possible! I usually hit it twice and just endure what's left :( .

BUT I believe ONLY if you recorded in SP (2 hr) or XP (1hr). No FR and No "mixed modes" ... Further details on p. 49 of the EH55 manual.
Bob R.
High speed dubbing to RAM discs can be done to shows recorded in all rec modes, including FR mode shows that are rec'ed directly to the hdd. You cannot, as you've pointed out, high speed dub a playlist constructed program, consisting of segments of shows recorded in different rec modes.

Having trouble burning a DVD? The disc might be a phoney. Some brand name DVD disc's aren't made by the company selling them; use the DVD Identifier to see the real manufacturer.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64169-order,3-page,1-c,encryption/description.html


As most of us have found out BRAND does matter as all DVDs are not the same manufactured quality.

In fact, sometimes even the Media ID is fake!

And if I may take exception to a previous comment, re the remote buttons not easily pushed by accident--- the TVGOS button is just above the "UP" arrow on the remote, and more than once I have pushed the TVGOS instead of UP when entering a name. Doing so purges the name, and I get to start over.

Richard
I agree, sorry I failed to mention this poor design of the remote. There are 3 buttons around the direction arrows (mouse?) area. The "TV Guide" (useless to me :mad: ), the "Direct Navigator" and "Functions" buttons. Very poor placement and I have hit them by mistake many times. At first, I thought is was just me and my big thumbs.

Can someone tell me if the EH55 has controls on the input volume? Often if one wishes to place different titles from different sources the volumes are different. Short of normalizing can one set the input volume on L1 to L3 at higher or lower levels?

How can I manually program a recording (from a line input e.g. Input 1)- seems like "TV Guide" always opens when I hit the "Schedule" button on the remote?

EH55 volume control on input? None that I know of. But all is not lost. I use an audio mixer in the audio input circuit.

Richard

How can I manually program a recording (from a line input e.g. Input 1)- seems like "TV Guide" always opens when I hit the "Schedule" button on the remote?
After you press "Schedule", press the "sub menu" button and you will see a menu on the left for scheduling a recording manually. Note: You must enter the numbers from the numeric keypad for dates, times, and channel, they don't increment or decrement with the arrow keys as you would think.

I am thinking of getting the EH55 but someone told me you can't burn anything you recorded on the hard drive to a dvd, is this correct? If it is true, what models can you burn from the hard drive? Does the Pioneer 640 allow you to? Thanks.

I am thinking of getting the EH55 but someone told me you can't burn anything you recorded on the hard drive to a dvd, is this correct? If it is true, what models can you burn from the hard drive? Does the Pioneer 640 allow you to? Thanks.

It burns to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, and supposedly DVD dual layer + or -

It burns to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, and supposedly DVD dual layer + or -

Thanks. It did not make sense to have a hard drive and you can't burn what you saved with the this dvd recorder.

One last question, is the EH55 a better choice than the Pioneer 640?

Thanks. It did not make sense to have a hard drive and you can't burn what you saved with the this dvd recorder.

One last question, is the EH55 a better choice than the Pioneer 640?

The Panasonic has a slightly larger Hard drive (200 vs. 160) and is able to do HD Upconversion with an HDMI cable, if that matters to you. Honestly, you couldn't go wrong with either.

Those of you who own this recorder along with an HDTV and are using it to upconvert DVD's to 720p/1080i, how are you finding the quality? Is it good or not so good? Would a better up-scaling dvd player be better? I don't have an HDTV yet (hope to soon) and I was just wondering if anyone has taken advantage of this feature and if so, how it faired. I tried searching the thread but didn't find anything close.

Those of you who own this recorder along with an HDTV and are using it to upconvert DVD's to 720p/1080i, how are you finding the quality? Is it good or not so good? Would a better up-scaling dvd player be better? I don't have an HDTV yet (hope to soon) and I was just wondering if anyone has taken advantage of this feature and if so, how it faired. I tried searching the thread but didn't find anything close.
I have tested my EH55 with the HDMI feeding my Sony at 720p and 18080i. Frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference between that and the component to component configuration. The Sony (720p native) has a very good scaller and accomplishes the same thing, as well or better, YMMV. At the very least my Sony HDTV and the Panny DVR have equally good scallers. The dirty little secret is that if your TV has a poor scaller (480p to 720p or 1080I) you might see an improvement with and up-scale DVD player, otherwise they are IMHO a waste of money. Most HDTVs today have very good scallers built into them. I didn't buy the EH55 for the HDMI output.

I have tested my EH55 with the HDMI feeding my Sony at 720p and 18080i. Frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference between that and the component to component configuration. The Sony (720p native) has a very good scaller and accomplishes the same thing, as well or better, YMMV. At the very least my Sony HDTV and the Panny DVR have equally good scallers. The dirty little secret is that if your TV has a poor scaller (480p to 720p or 1080I) you might see an improvement with and up-scale DVD player, otherwise they are IMHO a waste of money. Most HDTVs today have very good scallers built into them. I didn't buy the EH55 for the HDMI output.

Thanks, Snuffy, good to know. I'm looking at the Sony 40v2500 set which is 1080p - (plan on using it as a computer monitor as well). From what I've heard, this set has an excellent scaler.

One last question, is the EH55 a better choice than the Pioneer 640?

Any answer to this is apt to be highly subjective. The EH55 offers dv input; the Pioneer 640 does not. For me, this was a determining factor for my weekly recording.

I must say that on the EH55, many important functions are buried levels deep in the menus: Advanced Copy, Playlist (one click on the E100, six clicks on the EH55), . . .

Richard

Thanks, Snuffy, good to know. I'm looking at the Sony 40v2500 set which is 1080p - (plan on using it as a computer monitor as well). From what I've heard, this set has an excellent scaler.
Excellent Choice! :) I may purchase a new HDTV after the first of the year and I am also leaning toward the "Bravia" or the Samsung 40" LCD. They both have excellent PQ and their scaling is superb. I also looked at the Sharp Aquos but when testing their ability to scale SD to HD I was not impressed :( . Since a lot of what I watch is in SD (DVDs), it is important to me. I'm not ready to spring for HD DVD or Blu-Ray as yet. Sorry I got off topic of this thread.

I managed to get the TVGOS downloaded onto my EH55 using the D* H20. I used the S video connection and tied the RF out on the Panny to the antenna in on the H20 although I'm not sure this helped. I think the trick was to download and install the EH55 patch that is posted on the Panasonic web site which is intended for 'non responding' IR blasters. After I did a hard re-set on the EH55 and installed the patch via CD the two units talked to each other using the 2nd remote code listed under D* in the Panny set up menu. It took about 12 hours to show listings, but they are all there now.
Hope this helps.

I managed to get the TVGOS downloaded onto my EH55 using the D* H20. . . . . I think the trick was to download and install the EH55 patch that is posted on the Panasonic web site which is intended for 'non responding' IR blasters. . .
This is really good news :) You are a Hero and have given a glimer of hope to those of us who have been trying to get this to work for weeks. Could you list the name, number or link to the Firmware update. I could not find one that mentioned the "IR Blaster" on the Panny site, just the one that has to do with the "IR Remote", is that the one?

Thanks - the trick was that I first had to configure/install the TV guide function, even though I don't intend to use it.

Yes, the 'IR Remote' is the one. When you do a hard reset on the unit, this patch seemed to have been erased also as I had loaded it before, but when I went to reload it - it took, indicating that if it was still there it would have said that I was up to date.
Here is the link http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vDownloads

Yes, the 'IR Remote' is the one. When you do a hard reset on the unit, this patch seemed to have been erased also as I had loaded it before, but when I went to reload it - it took, indicating that if it was still there it would have said that I was up to date.
Here is the link http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vDownloads
I installed the upgrade and found that the IR Blaster would not switch the channels for code '1378' with it positioned in front of the H20's sensor. I had to move it to the far left edge of the box to work. It's switching ok now . . looking forward to finally seeing something in the TVGOS guide.

Originally posted by Bobr2k
[QUOTE=Snuffy101]how many seconds is the backup button?
A: No such button on the ‘EH55.

It seems to me the "backup button" on the EH55 is the "Slow/Search" << (the left button of the two buttons under that heading) ... in play mode, this button can be tapped multiple times to move back "really fast"
Originally posted by Snuffy101
I wish it were so, the button ain’t that smart. If someone could come up with a way to detect commercials and skip them, it would be great. Ain't possible! I usually hit it twice and just endure what's left.
I find that the "time slip" function works as well as the commercial skip button, and it goes forward or backward. True, it takes at least 3 keypresses, but so does the commercial skip to jump 3 minutes ahead. I can hit the time slip button, press up or down (for forward or backward, respectively) once for each minute and then enter, and I'm there. All can be done easily with just the thumb as all three controls are close together. I use it a lot for editing out commercial breaks, which tend to go 4 or even 5 minutes late in a movie. It also has the advantage of being able to set the skip forward or back in 10 minute increments by just holding the up/down button about a second to shift into 10 minute intervals. (See manual, p.38 for details.)

BTW, I have an old JVC SVHS deck that can be set to recognize the blackout before and after commercials, marks them during record, and fast forwards through them during playback, displaying only a blue screen. Surprisingly accurate. One would think the same could be done even more elegantly on a digital DVR. Anybody know of one that does?

Steve B.

Do you know if we need the IR unit for Dish Network?

I managed to get the TVGOS downloaded onto my EH55 using the D* H20. I used the S video connection and tied the RF out on the Panny to the antenna in on the H20 although I'm not sure this helped. I think the trick was to download and install the EH55 patch that is posted on the Panasonic web site which is intended for 'non responding' IR blasters. After I did a hard re-set on the EH55 and installed the patch via CD the two units talked to each other using the 2nd remote code listed under D* in the Panny set up menu. It took about 12 hours to show listings, but they are all there now.
Hope this helps.

Had it for over 3 months and it left, all channles show no listing, I have re did the setup and the first 3 items finish, but been searching for listings for a couple weeks, not getting any, direct tv guide still up and running though, anyone have any ideas on what happened? Thanks Bruce

Do you know if we need the IR unit for Dish Network?


Sorry I don't use the Dish network, but in general the IR blaster is a comms tool between the EH55 and your sat receiver. I wouldn't think it matters who your provider is, so I would imagine the answer is yes.
Good luck

One (other) disappointment in the DMR-EH55 is that it does not maintain the correct aspect ratio for 16X9 material recorded from my HDTV receiver. The videos from these sources are always recorded in 4X3 aspect ratio, which squeezes the picture horizontally. This is the case regardless of the "Enable High Speed Mode" being set to On or Off, see pg. 8 of the manual. Has anyone had better results recording 16X9 material onto the HDD?

I like to record movies and documentaries from the D* HD channels. In order to correct the aspect ratio for archived DVDs, I have to do the following;

1. I edit out commercials and other unwanted stuff on the ‘Eh55’s HDD and then copy the video to a DVD-R/W disk.
2. Using my PC, I then copy the entire DVD to a new folder (named for its content) onto the PC's hard drive.
3. Then, I use IFOEDIT to edit (correct) the Aspect Ratio Flag to “16X9” in the IFO files.
4. Finally, I burn the corrected folder using to a DVD+R (DL) disk, with IMGBURN.

The resultant DVD plays back on the ‘EH55 in the correct 16X9 aspect ratio and the picture quality is excellent. These recordings are of course not HD, just good quality SD.

Sadly, there is no way to change the aspect ratio of titles on the HDD of the’EH55. If you want, you can re-copy them back to the HDD after correcting them on a DVD. This is a lot of steps for something that should have been included in the design of the DMR-EH55, in the first place. Their manual seems to say it does? :confused:

I just got back from my local UPS Store where I dropped off my EH55 to send it back to Panasonic.

Every single day I'd set the timer recorder for that night's shows, only to have them deleted sometime during the day. I would get the following error message on the tv screen when i turned on the EH55:

"Press ENTER. The last recorded title might have been partially lost because of the problem with the disc. For successful recording, please try another disc."

The TVGOS would need to be reset and all pending recordings set w/b lost. The next day I'd complete the TVGOS setup, reset timer recordings for that night, get the error message, etc.

I called Panny customer service. They had me reformat the hdd, change and reformat the discs I was using for dubbing, and they sent me the new drivers which I installed (and which apparently are different from those available on the Panny site since I had already installed those, yet those from Panny overrode them).

Nothing made any difference, so they had me send it back. Who knows when I'll see it again or if there is any fix. They had told me they never saw that error message before.

One (other) disappointment in the DMR-EH55 is that it does not maintain the correct aspect ratio for 16X9 material recorded from my HDTV receiver. The videos from these sources are always recorded in 4X3 aspect ratio, which squeezes the picture horizontally. This is the case regardless of the "Enable High Speed Mode" being set to On or Off, see pg. 8 of the manual. Has anyone had better results recording 16X9 material onto the HDD?

I like to record movies and documentaries from the D* HD channels. In order to correct the aspect ratio for archived DVDs, I have to do the following;

1. I edit out commercials and other unwanted stuff on the ‘Eh55’s HDD and then copy the video to a DVD-R/W disk.
2. Using my PC, I then copy the entire DVD to a new folder (named for its content) onto the PC's hard drive.
3. Then, I use IFOEDIT to edit (correct) the Aspect Ratio Flag to “16X9” in the IFO files.
4. Finally, I burn the corrected folder using to a DVD+R (DL) disk, with IMGBURN.

The resultant DVD plays back on the ‘EH55 in the correct 16X9 aspect ratio and the picture quality is excellent. These recordings are of course not HD, just good quality SD.

Sadly, there is no way to change the aspect ratio of titles on the HDD of the’EH55. If you want, you can re-copy them back to the HDD after correcting them on a DVD. This is a lot of steps for something that should have been included in the design of the DMR-EH55, in the first place. Their manual seems to say it does? :confused:

You do not say what HD receiver that you are recording from or how that receiver is set to output the video to the EH55. Nor did you say what the setting is on the HD TV that you were watching the DVD on. I use my EH55 all the time to record HD material recorded on my DirecTV HR10-250 HD Tivo STB. Regardless of whether I record from the HR10-250 to the EH55 hard drive and then burn to a DVD-R or burn straight to a DVD-R from the HR10-250 I get perfect 16:9 anamorphic DVD recordings that play perfectly with no squeeze on my HD Panasonic plasma and LCD TVs set to Full mode. However if I want to play those DVDs on a SD 4:3 TV I need to do as you describe and use IFOEDIT to set the 16:9 flags. I have found that the anamorphic squeeze that you are getting is more likely to be that your HD receiver is not set to ouput a video signal that the EH55 can record as an anamorphic video or the HD reciver is not capable of doing that. The DirecTV HR10-250 must be set to letterbox and 16:9 or you get the results that you describe and the squeeze happens on Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony recorders. Also the 16:9 HD TV should be able to playback properly recorded anamorphic videos at the Full setting. I assume that you are using S-video to your recorder. What is you HD source and what HD TV do you have and what are the settings on both? You might find the attached document that I generated of use. Since I wrote this I have found that the Panasonic EH55 works as described in item 3 and 4 of the attachement.

You do not say what HD receiver that you are recording from or how that receiver is set to output the video to the EH55. Nor did you say what the setting is on the HD TV that you were watching the DVD on. . .My STB is an H20-100 I am recording through the S-Video connection to the EH55. My TV is a Sony KF-50WE610 which can and does respond to the 16:9 flag when present.

I read your post and attachment with great interest and based in your info, I performed several experiments with settings and have arrived at the following conclusion: The H20 is the culprit, since it has no settings for the S-video output and only outputs a raw 4:3 480I signal with no WS flag info :( . The H20 settings only change the Component and HDMI outputs. I was blaming the EH55 and it appears I was dead wrong, my apologies to Panasonic.
Snuffy

My STB is an H20-100 I am recording through the S-Video connection to the EH55. My TV is a Sony KF-50WE610 which can and does respond to the 16:9 flag when present.

I read your post and attachment with great interest and based in your info, I performed several experiments with settings and have arrived at the following conclusion: The H20 is the culprit, since it has no settings for the S-video output and only outputs a raw 4:3 480I signal with no WS flag info :( . The H20 settings only change the Component and HDMI outputs. I was blaming the EH55 and it appears I was dead wrong, my apologies to Panasonic.
Snuffy

Glad I could help. I downloaded the manual for the H20 and I did not see a section in Setup that shows you exactly how to select the output format. There is a section (pages 77 - 83) that shows you how to use the remote and front panel to cycle through the various formats. On page 79 it shows an awful lot of choices to cycle through for 480. Do these different outputs show differences from the S-Video output from the H20 patched through the DVD recorder to your TV? I know that some Motorola cable boxes are hopeless in they can't output an anamorphic picture but I am not familiar with the H20. I believe that the new HR20-700 has the same problem. I have no such problems with my four HR10-250 Tivo HD STBs but they have been discontinued. DirecTV did screw up the HR10-250 with a recent software download that causes audio dropouts on OTA channels like FOX. I am now in the process of installing the old software on them which takes time and effort because you have to reimage the hard drives on a PC. But that is another story.

Monday I should be receiving an HDMI cable that I ordered to hook up this unit to my new Sony HDTV. In the next room, about 20 feet away, I have my Sony CRT and was wondering if I could hook up this unit to it using about 25 feet on component cable. Would there be a problem with having a set of component cables hooked up to the CRT and the HDMI hooked up to the HDTV at the same time? Are they going to cancel themseleves making it so that I can only use one of these at a time?

Worse case scenario, I suppose, is that I could unhook one set of cables when I want to watch on one of the TV's.

My TiVo recently died and I am thinking about purchasing the Panny EH75V. Let me give you my current setup:

Panasonic 42 plasma (commercial)
Digital cable with DVR (input 1 to tv)
DVD player (input 2 to tv)

I am wanting to use the Panny as the input 3 to my television. I am thinking about this unit for several reasons, including the following:

1) It will serve as a second DVR for "regular" content (i.e. childrens shows for my son, shows on the lower cable channels) [the digital cable DVR quickly fills up with weekly recording of shows in HD before I can watch them on the weekend]

2) It will allow me to burn content onto DVDs for saving for later

3) It will allow me to convert some old VCR tapes to DVD for preservation

2 Questions:

1) I split the cable line in my old set-up (one to digitcal cable box, one to Tivo) and used two different inputs on the TV to switch to multiple content. It appears (from reading this discussion) that I can split the line and use the RF input for the cable content (I understand that I will only get channels 2-100). Do I need to use the IN3 connection to get TV Guide info from the cable box, or can I just set it up with the cable line in and then get the TV Guide info from one of the stations? My cable system does have the TV Guide channel - does that matter/help?

2) Using the S-vide connection (the digital cable box already uses the RBG input for the HD content) out of the Panny, will I still be able to view both VCR tapes and DVDs from the Panny on this output? I was confused since it lists "DVD Priority" on the back and the other output (component) was "VCR/DVD"? I want to make sure that I can watch VCR tapes with the S-video output on this unit.

Any advice or assistance is appreciated - this forum helped to convince me to purchase the Panny commercial plasma (which has been outstanding).

I just received my EH55 and I have a question. Can I watch regular cable TV while I am recording something else? If so, how do I do it? Thanks.

You do not say what HD receiver that you are recording from or how that receiver is set to output the video to the EH55. Nor did you say what the setting is on the HD TV that you were watching the DVD on. I use my EH55 all the time to record HD material recorded on my DirecTV HR10-250 HD Tivo STB. Regardless of whether I record from the HR10-250 to the EH55 hard drive and then burn to a DVD-R or burn straight to a DVD-R from the HR10-250 I get perfect 16:9 anamorphic DVD recordings that play perfectly with no squeeze on my HD Panasonic plasma and LCD TVs set to Full mode. However if I want to play those DVDs on a SD 4:3 TV I need to do as you describe and use IFOEDIT to set the 16:9 flags. I have found that the anamorphic squeeze that you are getting is more likely to be that your HD receiver is not set to ouput a video signal that the EH55 can record as an anamorphic video or the HD reciver is not capable of doing that. The DirecTV HR10-250 must be set to letterbox and 16:9 or you get the results that you describe and the squeeze happens on Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony recorders. Also the 16:9 HD TV should be able to playback properly recorded anamorphic videos at the Full setting. I assume that you are using S-video to your recorder. What is you HD source and what HD TV do you have and what are the settings on both? You might find the attached document that I generated of use. Since I wrote this I have found that the Panasonic EH55 works as described in item 3 and 4 of the attachement.


I was curious how your Panasonic EH55 recordings compare to that of the Sony GX-300 in terms of Picture Quality. That Panasonic model is supposed to have 12-bit signal processing like the GX-300.


nx211

Originally posted by Irish27
Can I watch regular cable TV while I am recording something else?
I do it all the time. The EH55 has only one tuner, so if it is recording something, you can not tune it to a different channel. However, if your TV has a tuner (ie, it is not just a monitor), you can switch to the TV tuner and watch any other channel on the cable.

My setup is straight cable with no digital STB. I split the cable from the wall with one lead going to the EH55 RF in (from which it downloads the TVGuide, as well as the cable programs) and the other lead going to the TV cable in. While recording, you can use the video button on either the TV or the EH55 remotes to switch the TV between TV and the EH55. The EH55 remote has separate buttons to change channels on the TV and the EH55.

You can also watch anything previously recorded on the hard drive while recording something new, or the beginning of the program you are currently recording ("chasing playback"). (I'm not sure if this works on the DVD drive, unless you are recording there on a DVD-RAM.) However, while recording a cable show, you cannot simultaneously watch anything coming into Input 1, 2, or 3 (e.g., VCR, DVD player, camcorder etc.).

HTH, Steve

I was curious how your Panasonic EH55 recordings compare to that of the Sony GX-300 in terms of Picture Quality. That Panasonic model is supposed to have 12-bit signal processing like the GX-300.


nx211

They are both great. The Panasonic is much better in the 4 hour LP mode (which is whay I bought it) but the Sony GX-300 and Sony GX-7 are great to 2.0 hours and insert the 16:9 flags in recordings of 2.0 hours or less so I don't have to use IfoEdit to reset the flags so that the recorded DVDs can be played undistorted on a 4:3 TV. I have since added a Sony RDR-HX715 which does the same thing as the GX-300 and GX-7 but extends the capability described above to 2.5 hours and adds a hard drive.

The Sony RDR-GX7 is built like a tank and a has a DV (Fire Wire) input. I plan on selling the GX7 on ebay. PM me if you are interested in it.

One other question, how do you delete the commercials? If you manually record a show or sporting event, can you still delete the commercials or only if you use the VCR Plus or TV schedule? Thanks.

They are both great. The Panasonic is much better in the 4 hour LP mode (which is whay I bought it) but the Sony GX-300 and Sony GX-7 are great to 2.0 hours and insert the 16:9 flags in recordings of 2.0 hours or less so I don't have to use IfoEdit to reset the flags so that the recorded DVDs can be played undistorted on a 4:3 TV. I have since added a Sony RDR-HX715 which does the same thing as the GX-300 and GX-7 but extends the capability described above to 2.5 hours and adds a hard drive.

Thanks for the response.

One of the limitations, or lack of a “feature” that the Sony HDD based DVD recorders have compared with the Panasonics and Pioneers is the lack of setting a bitrate to a specific time interval. That is a really nice feature to have and I can see why it’s a must have feature that some people don’t want to live without. Naturally, those recorders would yield better PQ when you want to record at a time interval just beyond those pre-set values of the Sony models. At least Sony saw some need to rectify this and allowed for a higher resolution to be maintained to the 2.5 hr. interval with the advent of the HX715.

I’m surprised that the Panasonic EH55 doesn’t set the 16:9 flag correctly. That’s a new model and one would think that Panasonic would, by now, have seen the need to have included that in their newest recorders.

But knowing all this leads me to my next question. If your were going to record a program and you wanted to use only the 1.0 hr or 2.0 hr. bitrate per disc, (HQ or SP speeds), and that the 16:9 flag setting wasn’t an issue, which recorder would you use? The Sony or the Panasonic? Are they so close in terms of PQ that it’s a wash? Or does the Sony still hold a PQ advantage over the EH55? If I remember correctly, I thought someone posted that the Sony PQ is still better than the Panasonic models that have a 12-bit DAC. But I think this comment was made in regards to a model prior to the EH55.


The Sony RDR-GX7 is built like a tank and a has a DV (Fire Wire) input. I plan on selling the GX7 on ebay. PM me if you are interested in it.

Thanks for the offer but I'm pretty happy with my GX-300s for now, at least until HD recorders start coming out.


nx211

Monday I should be receiving an HDMI cable that I ordered to hook up this unit to my new Sony HDTV. In the next room, about 20 feet away, I have my Sony CRT and was wondering if I could hook up this unit to it using about 25 feet on component cable. Would there be a problem with having a set of component cables hooked up to the CRT and the HDMI hooked up to the HDTV at the same time? Are they going to cancel themseleves making it so that I can only use one of these at a time?

Worse case scenario, I suppose, is that I could unhook one set of cables when I want to watch on one of the TV's.

Anyone? Please? I want to make sure before I place an order for cables that this'll work.

All you need to know is that the Component Video output stays live even when using the HDMI output. You can test this in a variety of ways without actually ordering & receiving the 25-foot set of Component Video cables. Take a normal Composite Video cable (yellow RCA) and run it to a spare monitor's Composite Video input. You will just be missing the color information but it will determine if there is output. Connect the HDMI, and if you are seeing both the HDMI and the same picture as you saw before you connected the HDMI, you have an affirmitive answer. If the picture on the non-HDMI (spare) monitor goes away when you connect the HDMI then you have a negative answer (i.e., don't order the 25-foot set of Component Video cables). No spare monitor with which to perform this test? No problem, throw an AC Voltmeter on the yellow RCA cable, observe the AC voltage in the working configuration (no HDMI connected), it should be around 1Vpp, connect the HDMI, watch for any change, no change and you're okay, but if the voltage goes to zero (or nearabouts) then there's your negative answer again.

I do it all the time. The EH55 has only one tuner, so if it is recording something, you can not tune it to a different channel. However, if your TV has a tuner (ie, it is not just a monitor), you can switch to the TV tuner and watch any other channel on the cable.

My setup is straight cable with no digital STB. I split the cable from the wall with one lead going to the EH55 RF in (from which it downloads the TVGuide, as well as the cable programs) and the other lead going to the TV cable in. While recording, you can use the video button on either the TV or the EH55 remotes to switch the TV between TV and the EH55. The EH55 remote has separate buttons to change channels on the TV and the EH55.

You can also watch anything previously recorded on the hard drive while recording something new, or the beginning of the program you are currently recording ("chasing playback"). (I'm not sure if this works on the DVD drive, unless you are recording there on a DVD-RAM.) However, while recording a cable show, you cannot simultaneously watch anything coming into Input 1, 2, or 3 (e.g., VCR, DVD player, camcorder etc.).

HTH, Steve


Maybe I'm missing something in what your saying. You don't have a STB going to your EH55 or your Plasma,,,,,,,,,,,,are you able to receive HD as well as digital cable channels ??? or do you mean you are using a Cable Card ???
Something doesn't sound right.

All you need to know is that the Component Video output stays live even when using the HDMI output. You can test this in a variety of ways without actually ordering & receiving the 25-foot set of Component Video cables. Take a normal Composite Video cable (yellow RCA) and run it to a spare monitor's Composite Video input. You will just be missing the color information but it will determine if there is output. Connect the HDMI, and if you are seeing both the HDMI and the same picture as you saw before you connected the HDMI, you have an affirmitive answer. If the picture on the non-HDMI (spare) monitor goes away when you connect the HDMI then you have a negative answer (i.e., don't order the 25-foot set of Component Video cables). No spare monitor with which to perform this test? No problem, throw an AC Voltmeter on the yellow RCA cable, observe the AC voltage in the working configuration (no HDMI connected), it should be around 1Vpp, connect the HDMI, watch for any change, no change and you're okay, but if the voltage goes to zero (or nearabouts) then there's your negative answer again.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot!

Thanks for the response.

But knowing all this leads me to my next question. If your were going to record a program and you wanted to use only the 1.0 hr or 2.0 hr. bitrate per disc, (HQ or SP speeds), and that the 16:9 flag setting wasn’t an issue, which recorder would you use? The Sony or the Panasonic? Are they so close in terms of PQ that it’s a wash? Or does the Sony still hold a PQ advantage over the EH55? If I remember correctly, I thought someone posted that the Sony PQ is still better than the Panasonic models that have a 12-bit DAC. But I think this comment was made in regards to a model prior to the EH55.


nx211

If the Panasonic EH55 set the 16:9 flag I would most likely use it because I like its editing and menu capability better than the Sony. I also like the Flexible Recording capability of the Panasonic. I have not compared the PQ of the Panasonic versus the Sony at 1.0 or 2.0 hours. I use my Sony 715 for all recordings up to 2.5 hours because the PQ is good and I don't have to use IfoEdit. Beyond 2.5 hours the PQ of the Sony is not very good and I therefore use the Panasonic EH55 with Flex Recording and then IfoEdit to set the 16:9 flags. I use the Panasonic at the LP speed for compilations of TV shows such as Boston Legal. Since I know that I will have to use IfoEdit to set the 16:9 flags I edit out the commercials on my PC because I can do that faster than on the EH55. I can then get five Boston Legal episodes on a DVD-R without recoding. I tested the LogicDesign filter on the Sony, Panasonic and an old Pioneer and I could not get it to record the 16:9 flags. Another member tested with the newer Pioneers and succeeded in forcing the flags when recording from a DirecTV HR10-250 HD Tivo STB to his Pioneer DVD recorder. If that really works I might consider a Pioneer 640 and the filter to set the flags as my workhorse. There are other threads that talk about LogicDesign filter (LogicDesign is his handle on the DVD Recorder forum).

Can anyone tell me how I can setup this unit on my Dish Network 3100 receiver's remote?

Thx

I have searched the manual and can't find anything about deleting commercials. I have read on a review site where someone wrote how easy it was to delete commercials. Is there an easy way, like hitting a few buttons, or do I need to manually go to each commercial and delete it myself? Thanks.

do I need to manually go to each commercial and delete it myself? Thanks.
Yep. That's what you have to do.

Yep. That's what you have to do. Hopefully next years model will have this capability.

I have searched the manual and can't find anything about deleting commercials. I have read on a review site where someone wrote how easy it was to delete commercials. Is there an easy way, like hitting a few buttons, or do I need to manually go to each commercial and delete it myself? Thanks.

As others have already said you have to manually do it yourself by creating 'chapters' - it's not as bad as it sounds. Yes, it takes some time to do, 5-10 minutes on average for me for a one-hour program. It'd be great if there were an easier way but otherwise it isn't as bad as it may sound.

How is the fan? Is it quite when it runs, how about when its off?

Is there any issues with TV Guide? I know my old Panny does.

Panasonic shows 4: once, regularly, weekly, and off. So, is "regularly" Panasonic speak for daily or always? And is there some use for "off" as a schedule option? I selected a program in TV Guide (this set up and is working flawlessly, by the way) and used the off option, A bullet marking the scheduled program appeared with a line through it and at the appointed time, the program did not record. This is as expected, but I believe I could have accomplished the same end by . . . doing nothing. What's "off" for?

Thanks!

PatH

What's "off" for?For disabling an entry without losing the ability to easily re-enable it. A certain program isn't on this week, but will return on a weekly basis next week, turn it from weekly to off, then back again next week, rather than delete it completely and then have to re-enter all the details.

Is PBS the only channel that the TVGOS info comes from? I'm sort of new at this stuff, so sorry, but, I have analog cable (no cable box) and I do have PBS, but my County Cable company tells me that TVGOS won't work, I will have to buy their DVR and pay per month for it. Through my cable, I DO get PBS, so does this mean for sure I will get TVGOS?

Is PBS the only channel that the TVGOS info comes from? I'm sort of new at this stuff, so sorry, but, I have analog cable (no cable box) and I do have PBS, but my County Cable company tells me that TVGOS won't work, I will have to buy their DVR and pay per month for it. Through my cable, I DO get PBS, so does this mean for sure I will get TVGOS?You should. I've never heard of any cable company stripping the data from an analog host channel.

Of course, I've never heard of "County Cable" either ;) :) .

Can't really give you any real assurances here.

Maybe call your local PBS channel(s) and ask them if they send it out either on cable or OTA.

If the Panasonic EH55 set the 16:9 flag I would most likely use it because I like its editing and menu capability better than the Sony. I also like the Flexible Recording capability of the Panasonic.

I have not compared the PQ of the Panasonic versus the Sony at 1.0 or 2.0 hours...


Thanks for the response. But in the future, if you ever get a chance to compare the Sony and the Panasonic recorders PQ in the 1.0 or 2.0 hr. modes, would you mind posting your thoughts? I would be interested if you could tell a difference.

Also, I don't even know if this would be possible for you, but if it were, could you do the comparison on an analog CRT display? I know you mentioned that you have both a plasma and lcd display, but subtle differences might be a bit more revealing on an analog CRT display since the digital scaler in those other displays might be masking any subtle differences between the two recorders. (They may only be processing color in 10-bits.)

Aprest, know doubt you have better things to do and forget about the request if it's too much trouble. But I thought I would at least pose the question since your the only one in this forum that I know of that has both the Sony and Panasonic recorders and the PQ difference question between the two recorders came up in another thread.


nx211

I'm running over analog cable without a box and got TVGOS listings without problem, presumably over local PBS.

PatH

I'm getting this machine in a couple of weeks. Does anyone know if you can copy mpegs from the SD card to the hard drive and then burn it to dvd? What about mp3s? Also, what is the highest capacity card it can take? There is a new 4GB card out there.

Thanks for your help.

I am thinking of buying the EH55 but I am wondering if it would work well “independently of” / in tandem with the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 DVR (supplied to me by Time Warner Cable). Does anyone out there know if these two items “play nice together”?

Just would like to know if the functionality of either is compromised in any way by the other if both are driven from a split cable. Is anyone out there using these two DVRs?

Thanks everyone….

I'm getting this machine in a couple of weeks. Does anyone know if you can copy mpegs from the SD card to the hard drive and then burn it to dvd? What about mp3s? Also, what is the highest capacity card it can take? There is a new 4GB card out there.
Thanks for your help.
I don't have any SD card equipment, but according to the manual;
You can play and copy still pictures taken on a digital camera, etc.
MPEG2 moving pictures shot with a Panasonic SD Video camera, etc. can be copied to the HDD or DVD-RAM.
MPEG2 moving pictures cannot be played directly from the SD card.
Suitable SD Memory Cards = 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB (Maximum)
This unit supports SD Memory Cards formatted in FAT12 system and FAT16 system based on SD Memory Card Specifications.
I hope this helps. :) Snuffy

I'm running over analog cable without a box and got TVGOS listings without problem, presumably over local PBS.

PatH

That's great, but I don't think that most of us would want to watch an analog cable signal on a large screen TV these days.

This brings up a question. One would probably have more success getting the TVGOS signal if they used RF into the EH55. The question is, if you hooked up s-video as well,which signal would be passed to the TV through the componet outs on the EH55? If the s-video input overrides the RF signal for the video passed to the TV and TVGOS could still be set up to look at the RF channels, this might be a workable solution. But I for one would not sacrifice PQ just to get TVGOS.

Has anyone tried this?

This brings up a question. One would probably have more success getting the TVGOS signal if they used RF into the EH55. The question is, if you hooked up s-video as well,which signal would be passed to the TV through the componet outs on the EH55? If the s-video input overrides the RF signal for the video passed to the TV and TVGOS could still be set up to look at the RF channels, this might be a workable solution.
I use the connection recommended in the book (#3 on the setup guide) ... (I have RF cable from wall to EH55, RF cable from EH55 to tv (no cable box in my installation) ... I think that acts as a "straight thru" for TVGOS or DVDR OFF operation. I have out1 to AV IN on my TV. I think what you're describing would work just fine ... when you're coming from the DVDR to the TV it would use the s-video. If my OLD TV had an s-video connection I'd use it instead of the red/white connection.

I connected my EH55S to my living room system and have a question regarding picture quality. After, downloading the TV Guide menu I turned the unit on, accessing it's tuner and viewing it on my TV. The picture was very grainy. Switching the TV back to the RF Input results in a crystal clear picture. Is the EH55S' tuner that bad and is that the picture quality I can expect when I record something onto the HDD?

I then threw in a DVD (the little one's Bambi 2 was the only one lying around) and it's picture was marginal at best. Admittedly, I'll have to try another DVD that I am more familiar with and perhaps fiddle with the HDMI resolution settings.

Connections are as follows:
Cable from wall ---> EH55S RF In
RF Out ---> TV's RF In
EH55S HDMI Out ---> TV's HDMI 1 In

Settings:
TV Screen = 16:9 480p
HDMI Resolution = 720p

TV = Panasonic TH-42PX60U

To top things off, Comcast just called and has an HD box available for me (already have a DCT-6412 in the home theater system in the basement) that will get thrown into the loop. I think I'm going to take the cable from the wall to a signal amplifier, then to a splitter with one feed going to the STB and one going to the EH55S.

Is anyone else unhappy with the picture quality? As already mentioned, the manual is VERY poorly written. Is there a setting that I have wrong?

Thanks,
Bill

I then threw in a DVD (the little one's Bambi 2 was the only one lying around) and it's picture was marginal at best. Admittedly, I'll have to try another DVD that I am more familiar with and perhaps fiddle with the HDMI resolution settings.HDMI is Not Always Best
Try connecting the ’55 to your TV with Component cables. I found the up-scaling done by the Panny is inferior to the up-scaling done by my Sony 50” LCDRP TV. The DVD 480I signals must be up-scaled to display on an HD TV and many TVs do a better job than DVD recorders and players. One other thing. . try both interlaced and progressive output formats from the ‘55 to your TV. My setup works best with setting the ’55 to the TV screen as 16:9, 480i, in my case progressive is not as sharp. My commercial DVDs and HDD recordings look really great coming from the “55. Many will tell you that HDMI is superior since it is “Digital”, that is simply not the case in many setups! Always experiment.

Snuffy

Thanks for th einfo Snuffy. I'll definitely have to try 16:9 480i and HDMI resolution of 1080i (it's hard because my plasma's native is in between 1080i and 720p) before I go out and buy component cables.

The HD box Comcast gave me is a DCT-6200. It looks like it might not output widescreen via S-Video or composite so I may be stuck doing the editing for 16:9 flags on my PC. If anyone knows a way around that with that Motorola box I'm all ears. Comcast provided a 3' length of RG6, a set of composite video/analog audio cables, a set of component video/analog audio cables, and a DVI-HDMI cable.

Bill

Bill,
You can save money and time by using a V-R-L cable (Yellow, Red, White) cable instead of a Component cable, if you already have one. Just connect the Yellow to Green (Y), Red to Red (Pr), White to Blue (Pb) on both ends. I have done this many times before and it appears to work every bit as good as a Component Cable. I’m sure that some “Monster Cable victims" out there will disagree. You didn’t say which brand and model of Plasma you have, but if it is a couple of years old, it likely has a 720 native resolution, it can’t have both 720 and 1080. The use of a Component Cable, feeds either 480i or 480p to the TV and lets your TV do the up-scaling and de-interlacing to the native resolution of the screen.
Snuffy

Snuff,

TV is:

TV = Panasonic TH-42PX60U

and is brand new.

1366 x 768 is it's native resolution.

Bill

HDMI is Not Always Best
Try connecting the ’55 to your TV with Component cables. I found the up-scaling done by the Panny is inferior to the up-scaling done by my Sony 50” LCDRP TV. The DVD 480I signals must be up-scaled to display on an HD TV and many TVs do a better job than DVD recorders and players. One other thing. . try both interlaced and progressive output formats from the ‘55 to your TV. My setup works best with setting the ’55 to the TV screen as 16:9, 480i, in my case progressive is not as sharp. My commercial DVDs and HDD recordings look really great coming from the “55. Many will tell you that HDMI is superior since it is “Digital”, that is simply not the case in many setups! Always experiment.

Snuffy


Use Component cables or HDMI cable and you'll see a big big improvement over RF.

Use Component cables or HDMI cable and you'll see a big big improvement over RF.

I don't believe either of those are available as inputs on the EH55 are they? I had planned on using S-Video out from the cable box to the EH55.

Bill

Anyone try using the SD card slot, I inserted a SD card with pics and videos from a Canon camera but nothing is detected. The manual suggests it only works with Panny cameras, hoping thats not the case?

I've tried using an SD card however message comes up 'not formatted' even though there are pictures on the card.


I haven't gotten it to work as yet.

Anyone try using the SD card slot, I inserted a SD card with pics and videos from a Canon camera but nothing is detected. The manual suggests it only works with Panny cameras, hoping thats not the case?

It works great on an SD card from my Casio EX-Z850.

Anyone using the EH55 to record DV tapes...

I'm trying to backup my DV tape collection.
When I record using 'DV Camcorder Rec.' it seems to stop between recordings on the disc. I'd like it to just keep going so I don't have to keep pressing rec again.

Is there any way to make it record the entire 1 hour tape, even with gaps of a few seconds between recordings?

I have been disappointed in the quality of DVD recording I have made doing the following.

1. I copy a 2-hour movie from my STB HDD to the EH55 HDD using FR copy with the high speed dub flag turned on.

2. I edit out the material I don't want and then high speed dub to a DVD-R.

Am I doing something wrong?

Would I get better quality if I copy from my STB to the EH55 in SP or LP without high speed flag turned on and then edit and use "FR" to copy to DVD in real time? Can you even use "FR" mode when copying from the EH55 HDD to DVD?

A second question i have is whether anyone has been able to get a reasonable quality DVD recording of a football game, after editing out pre-game, commercials, and have-time, using a single layer DVD and "FR" recording?

Thanks for your help.

Harry

1. I copy a 2-hour movie from my STB HDD to the EH55 HDD using FR copy with the high speed dub flag turned on.

2. I edit out the material I don't want and then high speed dub to a DVD-R.
That approach will leave empty space on the resulting disc, amounting to how much was edited out.

One simple way is: Record to HDD at maximum quality. Edit. Burn using FR (Real-Time) to DVD. I do this most of the time with my Panasonic E85H.

Ideally you would estimate how long the program will be after editing, and use a bitrate that corresponds to filling up a disc with that duration (when first recording to HDD). Unfortunately the Panasonics don't allow you to control the bitrate except by using the preset recording qualities, or the FR function. But the FR function isn't sufficient, say you have a 2-hour program which will be 90 minutes after editing. Using an FR setting of 90 minutes will yield the correct bitrate, but it will only record for 90 minutes, when you want the entire 2-hour program recording at the 90-minute bitrate. This is a shortcoming of the Panasonic FR mode.

Snuff,

TV is:



and is brand new.

1366 x 768 is it's native resolution.

Bill

Just an FYI, but I believe the 42" Panny is actually 1024 x 768.

I tend to be a little verbose, so please bear with me ...

Alright, thanks to a promotion at my wife's office, we got a free DMR-EH55 (can't beat free!). It arrived last night and I attempted to hook it up without really reading the quick setup guide (RTFM, I know. More on that later). I have Comcast HD service with a Motorola DCT5100 set-top box and a Panny TH-50PX60U.

I originally hooked it up by running the RF into the STB's RF IN, and then running another cable from the STB's RF Out to the EH55's RF IN. That was it.

Turned it on, ran setup, selected RF 3 for the channel, and it ran and let us start manually recording a show. HD channels showed up in 4:3 letterbox however, and I thought perhaps that might be because the STB can't output HD resolution over the RF cable (the same thing happened when the cable guy originally set up our HDTV ... he didn't bring any Component cables, so he just hooked the RF OUT from the STB into the TV's RF IN ... which didn't work at all for HD signals. I tried hooking the RF cable directly into the TV since it has a built-in tuner, but I guess Comcast just doesn't broadcast any over-the-air HD signals, because nothing came in on HD still. At the time I thought maybe it was just the TV's tuner, but I didn't give it anymore thought since the cable guy brought over Component cables the next day).

Anywho .... I thought maybe since the STB couldn't output full-screen HD over the RF OUT, I might be able to get full-scale video (even if it's not HD quality) by running the RF cable into the EH55 first, then running it out from there into the cable STB. That didn't seem to work in any form or fashion.

So I opened up the quick start manual, and it did indeed say to run the RF cable into EH55 first, then run that out to the STB. I tried that, and I only got channel 3. So I looked at the quick start guide again ...

It also said that you must connect a video connection into one of the composite/s-video IN lines. It said that when setting up the TVGOS, "IN3" was the normal connection (RF Channel 2, RF Ch. 3, and RF Ch. 4 were the other options. I previously had it on RF Ch. 3).

Still only channel 3 (I didn't mess with any of the input selections on the EH55, so I'm assuming it was still showing the RF input).

I said to heck with the quick start guide, picked up the big guide, found it equally annoying, but noticed that it mentioned running the RF cable into the STB first, then out to the EH55 ... contrary to the quick start guide. I came here, searched for "EH55 manual wrong," and found what seems to be a few people concurring that the quick start guide is incorrect in regards to hooking up the EH55 with a STB.

SO ..... after all that explaining, here are my two questions:

1) If I'm receiving a signal into the EH55 over its RF IN line (which is coming from the STB's RF OUT line), why would I need to run a separate composite/s-video IN line from the STB to the EH55? Or in reverse, if I run a composite/s-video IN from the STB to the EH55, why would I need to the RF cable into the EH55?

2) Does the following setup sound correct in regards to being able to use the TVGOS, watch one channel on my TV using it's built-in tuner, and record another channel on my EH55:

RF Cable from Wall to STB RF IN
STB RF OUT to EH55 RF IN
EH55 RF OUT to TV's RF IN

STB S-Video/audio OUT to EH55 S-Video/audio IN

EH55 Settings: Cable with Digital Cable Box, RF Channel 3

That way the cable box's RF passthrough should go into the EH55 so it can download program guide data, and the EH55's RF passthrough will go to the TV (which has a built-in tuner) so I can watch shows over the standard broadcast.

Meanwhile, I can set my STB to a different channel, and have it output over the S-Video to my EH55, which records it via its S-Video line in.

That's the only reason I can see why you'd need both the RF IN and the Composite/S-Video IN to both be hooked up to your cable box. It seems like it ought to be so simple, but I'm pretty sure if I try and write another abbrevation my head will explode. Did any of that make sense?

Here's hoping,
- Dave

Your connection looks good.

You need the direct A/V connection from STB to recorder to record digital/encrypted channels (typically those channels 100 and up).

If you are seeing letterboxing on 16:9 material, that is due to your STB, this is common when sending 16:9 from an STB over S-Video. DVD Recorders do not add letterboxing on input, only possibly when playing back a DVD with 16:9 material, and only if the recording is flagged as 16:9 and only if you told the recorder you are using a 4:3 display.

Thanks, Bob. I figured that's why I needed it to come in off the STB first. However, I'm still a little unsure as to why I would need both the RF input and the S-Video, unless the RF input is the only thing the TVGOS will come in over on, and the S-Video would be for a bit better quality.

The only 16:9 material I was seeing letterboxing on were the HD channels. They do the same thing if I hook up the cable to the TV any other way than WALL RF -> STB -> Component to TV (STB doesn't have HDMI out).

I originall hooked up the EH55 straight to the wall RF outlet hoping to get full HD signals from OTA broadcasts, but it seems there are none, and my STB only outputs full 16:9 on the HD channels if it's going through a component or HDMI cable. Kind of a bummer that the EH55 doesn't have any inputs for those.

On the plus side, I haven't taken the time to figure out if and how to make my Panny 50" upconvert all signals to 720p, so running the cable channels through the EH55 and having it upconvert them makes all the non-HD channels look a heck of a lot better. So it was nice to know that even if that Panny 50" can't upconvert a signal from the STB (which I need to read up on), the EH55 can when I want to watch standard definition TV shows.

I don't use any TVGOS but it does go over cable so having that connection will enable your recorder to see it.

But mainly, you want to be able to record analog channels directly to the recorder without tying up the STB. Then you can watch another channel using the STB while the recorder is recording off the RF in using its tuner.

It also makes timed recordings more convenient by using the recorder's tuner rather than requiring the STB to be tuned to a specific channel at a specific time.

Well, I got home and took a look at it and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on. lol.

I turns out when I left after lunch I had the RF cable going from the Wall to the EH55 to the STB, and then the STB going back into the EH55 with an S-Video cable. My EH55 is set to have the cable box input on IN3, so I'm guessing that's why it's picking up video over the S-Video connection, and the RF cable was simply passing through pointlessly (unless by this sentence you mean that the channel lineup will ONLY pass through over the RF connection, and not the S-Video connection: "TVGOS but it does go over cable so having that connection will enable your recorder to see it.")

I had my channel line-ups (but no schedules yet) when I got home today, but since I had both the RF Cable going straight into the EH55 and the S-Video going from the STB to it, I don't know if they were both necessary or not.

I'm just going to set it up like I worded in my above post, because I was feeling semi-lucid when I wrote that, and should probably just trust that moment now that I'm back at home staring at a mess of wires, TV's, cable boxes, game systems, receivers, DVD players .... *faints*

TVGOS information does go through the RF cable. What I can't assert is that that's the only way to get it. I once thought this was the case but someone claimed it can also be received through the direct A/V connection from STB to DVDR. I can't confirm that so that's as much help as I can be.

But you want the RF anyway for the reasons I gave in my previous post.